


Utter Perfection

by Winter_Snow



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pokemon - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood, Body Horror, But its not explicit or anything so don't worry, Collars, Crying, Dark, Dehumanization, Electrocution, Emotional Hurt, Everyone Needs A Hug, Everything Hurts, F/M, Faba and Mohn were friends, Fabas still branch chief at the beginning, Guilt, Heavy Angst, Hospitalization, How Do I Tag, Human Experimentation, I Can't bean-lieve I wrote this!, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Imprisonment, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Lusamine is crazy, M/M, Memory Loss, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Night Terrors, No Smut, Obsessive Behavior, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Post Game, Punishment, Repressed Memories, Self-Hatred, Sorry Not Sorry, Swearing, Torture, Transformation, Trauma, Ultra Beast faba, Unethical Experimentation, Violence, What Have I Done, Work In Progress, employee OCs, faba needs to be saved right now, fabas just a little bit of a dick, forced transformation, lusamine is creepy af, misplaced blame, overprotective Wicke, poor bean man, wicke is fucking pissed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2020-03-08 07:40:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 140,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18890167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_Snow/pseuds/Winter_Snow
Summary: After a series of experiments due to disobedience Lusamine's new ultra beast parishes. She still wants, still needs a new beast, but they can never be the perfect creature she desires. Now, Faba he's loyal. He's obedient and most importantly the last connection she has to him. The solution is obvious to her, to combine both these things to finally give her the obedient beast that she's always wanted.





	1. A Brilliant Idea

**Author's Note:**

> There isn't enough fan fiction about about Faba, which is a shame because I personally adore the bean man!  
> To give him some more justice i've decided to write my own!  
> This is the first fic i've ever built the confidence to post, so comments and critics are greatly appreciated!  
> I really enjoyed writing this so hopefully you enjoy reading it!!  
> I'll try and post chapters weekly as I have already written a good portion of this story in my note book, but I have a lot of projects for school, finals and most importantly I'm really lazy, i'm not prominence anything.  
> Also my grammar and sentence structure aren't the best, so sorry in advance.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lusmine is a creepy bitch.

Lusamine sat alone in her large office head in her arms as the women sobbed to herself at her pristine white desk.  
Her beast...her beautiful beast was gone, dead!  
Dead at the hands of the employees who failed to train her beast to behave properly.  
She had already been angered and frustrated enough when her new beast refused to follow even the simplest of commands and even attempted to attack her on more than one occasion, but now that the creature was dead she was both soulful and enraged.  
She had to get herself a new beast as fast as possible! She just had to!  
Even if it meant becoming poisoned a second time by them.  
Whatever it took, no matter the cost or possible repercussions she would claim another beast for her own and this time she would make sure to give it all the love it needed and make sure it was trained properly to follow her every command. A soft series of recognizable knocks then echoed through the office causing her to snap out of her grief.  
She lifted her head from the puddle of tears she had made, sniffling pathetically.  
“Whoever you happen to be please do go away! Can’t you see I'm still grieving over my poor beast?!”  
“But, Madam President you’ve been in there for days! And I really need to discuss the recent incidents with you!”  
Lusamine sighed and reluctantly shifted herself upright, dabbing at the corners of her watering eyes with a tissue and disposing of it.  
“Oh very well Branch Chief Faba, you may enter.”  
She called out softly, the annoyance clear in her tone.  
With the creek of the double doors, Faba strode inside the room looking a tad less tidy than usual, the man had obviously been doing most of Lusamine's work while the woman locked herself away in her office to wallow.  
“What is so important that you must disrupt my grief Branch Chief?”  
She demanded, motioning with her head for the man to take the seat in front of her.  
“As I said Madam President there are important things I need to discuss with you such as the accident with your ultra beast, your recent poisoning recovery of it and..”  
The man paused as he sat down, fingers digging into the armrest, an angry look crossing his face as he began to grind his teeth.  
“Why you fired Assistant Branch Chief Wicke and replaced her with that bubbling dolt Malachite!?”  
Lusamine’s eyes began to noticeably water at the mere mention of the creature.  
“My beast, tell me Branch Chief Faba, it didn’t suffer, did it?”  
Something dark flashed in Faba’s eyes.  
“Of course it suffered!” he snapped at an intensity that surprised her as even if her Branch Chief was usually snippy with most the employees never used such a tone with her as she was his superior and Faba always obeyed his superiors.  
“You of all people have to know that! I told you myself that all those mind altering experiments were severely hurting it and that we should stop before we kill it!”  
Lusamine frowned, he had never taken this tone with her before and she really didn’t appreciate it, he was lower than her after all.  
“Mr. Faba-” She started with narrowed eyes, “I would appreciate it if you didn’t pin this tragedy on me. It is clear that you and your employees are the sole ones to blame for this horrible, horrible accident”  
“Madam President! With all due respect, you are the one who wanted us to conduct those experiments, to begin with! Usually, I would agree with such a thing to get information off of it, but we already have it all! What we were doing was just causing it needless pain! I'm not working under you to give you everything you want and kill a creature that didn’t know what the hell was going on most the time! I'm not working under you to kill things Madam President!”  
The blond women stared blankly at him as Faba raised his head in a gesture of defiance, his blue eyes meeting her green.  
“Branch Chief Faba I will not be spoken to in such a tone, I am your superior and you will do whatever I tell you to do” She started coldly, slowly rising from her chair and over to Faba who shrank in his own seat with every step she took the confident gleam in his eyes turning into fear.  
“Including working to get me a new beast... I know you can do it with that brilliant mind of yours... It’s the only thing I have left of him that's not tainted.”  
With every word she spoke the closer she got to the increasingly uneasy Faba, eyes now wide as the women's hands now gripped his own, pinning them to the armrest, faces so close now that their noses were nearly touching.  
“Madam President-” Faba began, pushing his back as far as it would go into the chair.  
“We’re not just going to risk an employee's life for another one of those things, and anyhow even if we did manage to obtain another one it will never do what you tell it to! What any of us tell it to do! Those things are uncontrollable!”  
The man shook his head, “And what on earth do you mean the only thing you have left of him?! Do you mean Mohn!? Because if you do your a lot more-”  
“Silence” Lusamine hissed, standing up straight, so she could properly look down on Faba with a pair of cold angry eyes.  
Faba bite his lip and looked away, his thin shoulders tensing up.  
He looked like there were still quite a few things he wished to say to her, but remained quiet just as she told him to be.  
Frustration prickled at the corners of her mind, why on earth couldn’t her wonderful beast behave in such an obedient manner?  
Why wouldn’t it do anything for her without hesitation like him?  
Stand by her side no matter what... like him?  
A sudden smile appeared on the tall woman's face, a brilliant idea suddenly presenting itself in her head, a strange look that could only be described as a deep need flashing in her eyes that Faba most definitely didn’t like at all.  
“Tell me Branch Chief Faba..” Lusamine started, lifting up his chin with a hand and being to gently stroke his hair with the other.  
“You are loyal to me and me alone are you not?”  
Faba looked panicked as he nodded frantically, “Yes! Yes! Of course!” he exclaimed, his entire form going rigged against her hands.  
“I… When I said all that I didn’t mean for you to think I would betray you in any way! No, no! I am loyal to you Madam President, I am! I was just... Carelessly running my mouth I apologize, I-”  
“Silence” Lusamine said, watching in delight as despite the quiet volume of her word as her Branch Chiefs mouth instantly snapped shut, a few beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.  
“And.. you would do anything for me if I ordered it?”  
“Of course I would Madam President!” Faba quickly replied, not fully processing what the women was saying, too terrified at the thought of his boss demoting or even firing him as result of his words.  
“Good,” She told him with a smile, petting his head for a few more seconds before finally stopping and walking back over to her desk.  
“You may leave now Branch Chief and oh.. Don’t you worry about getting me another beast, I think I’ll have Malachite and the others take care of that for now and don’t you stress Mr. Faba! It’s not going to involve one of those pesky ultra wormholes! I think I’ve just found an alternative way on how to make myself a new beast... You don’t even have to worry about training it! This new beast will be loyal to me, I guarantee it”  
“Y-Yes Madam President!” Faba answered standing up from his chair and fleeing the room with a messy bow, too on edge and frankly creeped out to question why he was being removed from The Ultra Beast Project or even wonder what she meant by all that, wisely deciding he had pushed his luck more than enough today.

~

Lusamine watched him leave without a word, her smile only growling as she thought into more depth about her idea.  
The beasts, Faba was right about one thing at least, even with the nonstop training, mind experiments and hypnosis would never be obedient to her as they were quite literally aliens that had never had any interactions with humans before, but if she took something that was already loyal to her.  
Something that was already perfectly trained and warped it into a new beast, a small airy sigh left her lips.  
It would be perfect, so wonderfully beautifully perfect!  
He had his disgusting flaws, just like the disobedient beasts, but Lusamine was sure combining the two would cancel out those flaws and give her the beast she had always wanted. Something that was obedient and loyal to her and her alone. She shivered, already becoming excited at the thought.  
Picking up the phone on her desk with trembling hands she punched in the correct number and brought the phone to her ear.  
“Madam President?”  
“Malachite, I have a job for you.”


	2. A plea from her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Wicke worry’s and try’s to tell her dumb ass friend to get the hell out there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> I was in a writing mood so, I decided to go ahead and type up another chapter!  
> This one is relatively uneventful, it's the calm before the storm I guess you could say, but don't worry major shit goes down in the next chapter which will be twice as long and that I will be sure to post as soon as possible!  
> I really hope you enjoy reading this chapter and again my grammar and sentence structure sucks so sorry in advance!

“You’re serious? She really said that to you Faba?”  
“She’s been saying stuff along those lines for months now Wicke! It’s really starting to creep me out...”  
“You… don’t think she’s starting to develop feelings for you, do you?” Wicke asked from the computer screen, her face twisted in worry and concern for the man pacing before her.  
“I currently hope not… she tends to teat things she loves like objects, but the way she's been speaking to me, and the way she's been acting, I fear you might be right.”  
The women gazed at him grimly and straightened her pink glasses, “Please… Faba… what has she been saying to you? Doing? If it’s severe enough to get you this worked up you might want to think about quitting like you said you might, and get a new job someplace else!”  
“That was just talk, nothing more” He dismissed.  
Wicke frowned at him, “Faba I'm serious I think it’s in your best interest if you place your leave if you don’t want to become her next obsession!”  
“I’m not quitting” he replied stubbornly.  
“I’ve worked too damn hard at this place and achieved too much, I’ve worked here most of my life Wicke! Since I was a teenager with Mohn! It would feel wrong to just up and leave!  
Wicke didn't look happy with his statement but nodded respectfully.  
“I understand, I'm sorry I don’t mean to be so pushy with you I'm just worried. The Aether Foundation... It’s not a good place, not anymore. It’s going to fall one day, you of all people have to know that, and when It does I don’t want Lusamine dragging you down with her...”  
The women trailed off and shook her head roughly as Faba stopped his pacing to stare at her with his mouth half-open.  
“Anyhow! About what the presidents been saying to you?”  
Faba closed his mouth, “It... well it wasn’t anything much at first” he began, starting to pace once more.  
“Just some minor things like calling me her precious assistant from time to time and commenting on how beautiful I am. Now as I am quite perfect and beautiful-” He pushed to put a hand on his chest.  
“I didn’t mind in the slightest! In fact, I deserved all those compliments for all the hardships she put me through, but then... As some time passed she began to become possessive of me... She won’t let me go anywhere or really do literally anything without at least informing her about it. She also gets alarmingly aggravated whenever I forget to comb my hair or if I have any wrinkles in my clothes and calling it imperfect behavior.”  
Wicke wrinkled her nose, the concerned look on her face only growing more prominent.  
“Also...” the man hesitated, “she.. Keeps grabbing my arm for some reason and petting my hair” The man shuttered lightly.  
“And all this behavior... it’s just getting worse and much more frequent!”  
I… I can hardly even get any work done with her dragging me into her office where she’s mostly just talking at me about all the ways I can improve my imperfections, not that I have any of course.  
Oh, yes! And creepiest of all I can even spot her just staring at me all the time with that creepy smile on her face, and just yesterday she came in my lab to quote on quote observe me working! She’s really starting to creep me out!  
Wicke stared at him for a moment, “Faba... that's a whole new level of creepy, and you said these behaviors been going on for months? MONTHS!?!  
Faba flinched at her tone and nodded his pacing stopping once again.  
“I think it may have started after that ultra beast of hers died..”  
Wicke’s face hardened, “Look... I know you don’t want to quit, but this doesn't sound good. From what you’re saying it sounds like you have already become her next obsession.”  
Faba gulped and seemed to pale at this.  
“Please my friend you of all people have to know her interest in you isn’t going to just go away! You’ve known her for so much longer than I have, so you have to know once that women gets her mind set on something she wants-”  
“She won't stop until she gets it, I know” Faba grounded, his eyes only softening when he saw the intense worry on her face.  
“Don’t get me wrong Wicke I’m about as unnerved as you about all this, but I’m positive unlike most the presidents obsessions the one toward myself will pass sooner than later.”  
Wicke looked unconvinced.  
“I mean it!” he sniped.  
“That new ultra beast Malachite and the others are creating. I don’t know as much as I would like to, but apparently, the thing is nearing completion, and once they give it to her Lusamine will start obsessing over it again and not me.”  
Wicke still didn’t look convinced, “And what if that poor thing just dies again!? She’ll just jump right back to you!”  
Faba ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply, “If it makes you feel better if it does come to that, which might I add is highly unlikely, or her behavior remains the same toward me after that ultra beast is created I will consider quitting.”  
The women's eyes light up, “good.” she mumbled looking relieved.  
“That's good to here Faba! I… If you end up quitting last minute I even have a guest room you can stay in for as long as you need!”  
“I’ll keep that in mind.” the man replied, beginning to toy with his goatee.  
The two fell into a comfortable silence for a moment savoring each others company even if nothing was said until Faba cleared his throat and glanced at the clock that was out of Wickes line of sight.  
“I’m afraid I need to go now,” he told her with a frown.  
“We’ve already been talking far longer than I intended to and I have things I must atone to before the President can throw another hissy fit.”  
“Of course” Wicke smiled sadly.  
“Just remember to eat and sleep, please! I’m not there to take care of you anymore!”  
Faba rolled his eyes “Yes, yes I will if I can spare the time that is”  
“Faba if you don’t-”  
“Anyways!” He interrupted, “If I do decide to quit I’ll be sure to inform you about it, I could possibly even purchase a house near you.”  
The brunette smiled warmly, “It would be nice to talk to you again in person, even if you are frustrating at times...”  
“I am not!” he huffed, crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air.  
“Goodbye Faba,” Wicke said sternly laughter in her voice as she moved her mouse to end the call.  
“Err... Wicke wait!”  
The women passed blinking puzzledly at the blond.  
“I… umm thank you for worrying so much about me… I really… I really appreciate it!  
Wicke felt touched, sentimental moments like this from Faba were rare.  
She opened her mouth to reply to him, but It was too late, the man had already hung up.  
Wicke shook her head and closed her laptop, nonetheless if Lusamine's behavior toward Faba stopped she still hoped he would just quit!  
She really did understand why he wasn’t, but it didn’t stop her from being frustrated at him for being worried.  
If he didn’t get out of there soon Wicke had a horrible feeling something terrible was going to happen to him and she had a sneaking suspicion that the terrible thing would involve Lusamine.  
The women drummed her fingers restlessly on the table, turning her head to look out the window where the Alola sun shone brightly.  
Hopefully, everything would end up being ok in the end.  
Faba would eventually come to his senses and quit and possibly move close to her like he said he might, then the two would go out for drinks as they used to from time to time before she was fired and she would let Faba bad mouth and rant about all the people he didn't like.  
She smiled at the thought.  
Yes, everything was going to be just fine in the end she just had to be patient.


	3. perfection at last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Faba has a very bad time and Lusmine isn’t really helping matters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done, Is everyone ready for the shit show?  
> Fair warning the tags start to take play from here and the transformation scene I wrote is probably a lot more drawn out and gruesome then it needs to be as I really like writing this kind of stuff, so if you don't like long drawn out transformation scenes than you probably shouldn't be reading this.  
> Any ways I spent an annoyingly long time perfecting this chapter in particular, so I hope you enjoy and also apologize in advance for any grammar or sentence structure mistakes you might see!

Faba quickened his pace as he strutted to Lusamine’s office, his gaze cast straight ahead, head held high.  
I’m done, he thought hands curling into fists.  
I can’t take any more of this possessive crap from Lusamine anymore! I just can’t.  
After what she had done to him yesterday, he no longer wished to stay here for even a day more.  
A shiver ran through him as he remembered the whole horrible ordeal, he had a day to recover from it, but he still felt weak and dizzy and his stomach was still churning, or perhaps was that from fear?  
He didn't really know, but what he did know for certain was that while he worked in the foundation under Lusamine he wasn’t safe, he wasn’t safe in the slightest.  
Before he had just been creeped out by the women, but now he was ashamed to admit he was afraid.  
She was treating him like a possession!  
Like he was her disobedient pokemon!  
Well, to be fair she treated utmost everyone like her possession especially himself as of lately, but he never thought she would hurt him like that!  
That was the last straw, he was quitting, he was done.  
Done doing all the President's dirty work, done being treated like this by her, done clinging to something that was no longer there, done having to deal with Malachite and the other idiotic employees bullshit and just done overall being a living puppet to her.  
He was going to get out of here for good, and wasn’t looking back.  
The thought left a bittersweet taste in his mouth, well at least Wicke would he happy when he told her later...  
“OFFF!” Faba left out a gasp as he turned around the corner, nearly falling on his rear as a tall ocean eyed with strange greenish-blue haired man ran straight into him.  
“Watch it Assistant Branch Chief Malachite!” The blond spat, craning his neck up to glare angrily at the much taller man.  
His assistant didn’t look too apologetic, staring down at Faba with cold, hate-filled eyes a large sneer now on his face that showed his gums.  
“Oh, my apologies all high and mighty Branch Chief Bean,” Malachite growled in response, tone drenched to the bone with sarcasm.  
Faba bristled a sneer of his own that was equally as ugly appearing on his face.  
“How dare you! It would be wise if you apologized to me now, Assistant Branch Chief and I might not consider demoting you!”  
Malachite scoffed, “demote me? Oh, but Branch Chief Faba, I'm currently in charge of The Ultra Beast Project don’t you recall? A project I might add that you aren't involved in.”  
For some reason Malachite’s lips twitched at this as if something he said was amusing, “Give it a rest, you can’t touch me the President would never let you demote me.”  
The blond’s face twisted, about to start screaming at the arrogant buffoon, but before he could get out a single cuss Malachite roughly rammed his shoulder into Faba’s nearly causing him to fall again, and walk off with a malicious grin on his face.  
Muttering something about him not being a part of the project yet, to himself that was too soft for Faba to overhear.  
Ugh! The nerve of that obnoxious no good brat!  
He knew Malachite despised him about as much as he despised him, but they would usually try not to show it whenever they were working in close proximity with each other, on an account of they would both scream themselves hoarse.  
It was a little like an unspoken truce, but today he seemed unhinged.  
The Ultra Beast Project was probably just making him lose sleep, not that Faba cared in the slightest, but something about that look in his eye made Faba more uneasy than he already was.  
The man forced himself to turn away from the hallway, his assistant now clear from his view almost instinctively wanting to run after him and rave at the idiot for a good few hours for daring to call him such a degrading name and finished his way to Lusamine's office.  
Feeling bitter at the fact that when he did quit Malachite would take his place as Branch Chief, but by now Faba didn't care which really showed how much Lusamine had shaken him.  
Ignoring the growing feeling of dread he raised his fist and knocked on the door.  
“Madam President I wish to discuss a personal matter with you.”  
“You may enter Branch Chief Faba”  
He entered to find his superior sitting calmly at her desk, her hands folded neatly on top.  
“Have you recovered from your poisoning yet Mr. Faba?” She asked, with a sickly sweet grin on her face.  
“For the most part.” He grunted, walking over to her desk, but not taking the seat despite his dizziness.  
Lusamine's smile strained her words gaining a new edge, “Please take a seat, my beautiful assistant.”  
“I won’t be staying long” he informed her.  
“I assure you this matter won’t take me to long to discuss with you.”  
Lusamine’s smile strained, even more, becoming so large it almost looked cartoonish.  
“Mr. Faba if this is about that punishment I gave you with my Lilligant then you must understand that I had to teach you a lesson-”  
“I wish to quit Madam President” he interrupted, pulling the folded up papers of his pocket and placing them on the desk.  
Lusamine’s cartoonish smile fell, “No.”  
“Excuse me? What do you mean no?! You can’t stop me from leaving!” He protested, the dread in his gut becoming stronger.  
“No! You’re not leaving me! I won’t let you! You, you’re mine! I’m not letting you leave as everyone else has! You will stay here, I command it!”  
Faba took a few large steps back as the blond women abruptly jumped to her feet sending the throne-like chair she was sitting in to fall with a *bang!* on its side.  
“I don’t care what you command, I’m not staying here! I quit, this is not a request you can deny! I am quitting whether you like it or not!”  
He snapped with as much confidence as he could muster, then with a graceful spin of his heel turned and quickly walked to the double doors only to find with a sinking stomach that when he pulled down on the handle the lock restricted it.  
She must have locked it remotely when his back was turned.  
“Let me out!” he commanded, gloved hand on his Hypnos Pokeball ready to call his beloved partner out as he turned back to the women with a mixture of fear and anger.  
“No, you’re not leaving,” She said in a cold, soft tone that sent a shiver down Faba’s spine.  
“I made the mistake of letting all the others leave,but I'm not making the same mistake with you! You're only saying all this because you’re confused because you feel neglected by me, because your imperfect!”  
The women stuck her hand in her pocket, obviously about to pull something out.  
“I’ll make you perfect my beautiful assistant, you’ll see!! I’m going to make you so wonderfully beautifully perfect! I’ll make you accept my love like none of the other did! Doesn't that sound lovely my beast!?”  
Beyond creeped out by this point and not wanting to find out what Lusamine was fishing out of her pocket, the man's fingers curled around the ultra ball and threw it without hesitation.  
“A..Alma come out!”  
The blond women's eyes light up with rage as Faba’s Hypno appeared out of its ball looking terribly confused as to what the hell was going on.  
“No time to explain! Just break the door down Alma!”  
“Hyp? Hypno!” His loyal pokemon nodded, although looking a little taken back, turning to the door and raising a yellow paw to open it with her physic power only for a shadow ball to hit her square in her furry chest causing his psychic type to slam against the wall.  
“Alma!” Faba cried out in alarm as another shadow ball followed sent by Lusamine’s Mismagius.  
“You really are so predictable Branch Chief Faba, I’ve known you for years, you really think I wouldn't know your thinking pattern my now?”  
She asked not looking too happy with his failed escape attempt as he called his now fainted Hypno back into her ball and shoved it hastily into his pocket, continuing to back away until his back hit the door.  
He had no pokemon left.  
He had left them all back in his quarters not thinking Lusamine would react this violently when he placed his leave.  
He was completely and utterly defenseless against her and even worse than that, he knew for a fact her office was soundproof!  
Faba’s knees began to shake against his will, oh Arceus what was Lusamine going to do to him?  
“Madam President please, let me go. I’m sure your new beast will make you very happy, you don’t need me!”  
For some odd reason, Lusamine's smile returned, “Don’t need you? But of course, I need you, my beautiful assistant! You… the beasts, you two alone can not make me truly happy, be truly perfect, but together,-”  
An airy sight left her lips.  
“Together… and I’ll have utter perfection!”  
“M..Madam President what are you-” Faba started only to be cut off by Lusamine yelling; “Miss Magness use shadow ball!”  
The man didn’t have the time nor the strength to even attempt to dodge as the ghost types attack flung him violently against the far side of the wall with a sickening *thud!* resulting in the scientist crumpling to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.  
“Don’t worry Mr. Faba I’ll graciously look over you rudely trying to leave. It’s understandable that your confused at the moment, but you’re going to be perfect I promise.”  
She purred walking over to his prone form and pulling him up the wall by the green collar of his sweater, with surprising ease.  
“Put..me..d..down” Faba growled, weakly trying to push her away.  
“Shhh..shhh it’s alright,” she said pulling a strange diamond-shaped container with gold edges on it and a sharp silver point that was filled completely with blue liquid.  
“I am going to make you my perfect beast, aren't you so happy? you’ll be even closer to him like this!”  
And with that Lusamine stabbed the needle part of the diamond into his neck, ignoring Fabas soft gasp of pain.  
They stood like that for a good few seconds until every last drop of the blue liquid was gone, the women let go of him to call her Pokemon back into its ball causing the Branch Chief to collapse to the floor again.  
“L...Lus..amine? W..wha-” he moaned, one of his hands moving to the place ware Lusamine stabbed him.  
“What.. what did you do to..to m-”  
Faba passed in the midst of his sentence eyes bulging from their sockets as he arched his back and began to scream, several long white hairs sprouting from his neck as he convulsed and hands curling into a claw-like motion as his nails unknown to him at the moment since they were beneath his gloves, thickened turning light green in color and became overgrown.  
Only a few measly seconds has passed as his nails became sharper and longer as their new texture began to creep his fingers all the while Faba begged and screamed for Lusamine to stop whatever was happening to him, but the women didn't so much as waiver at his pleas as she continued to smile down at him.  
A series of eerie *snaps!* then echoed through the large office, the blond man’s fingers distorting under his gloves as all the bones were broken and reset into an entirely different shape.  
The claw-like motion he had curled his hands into now becoming all to permanent and literal.  
“Oh, how wonderful! Your claws are coming in already!”  
Lusamine cried happily as his much longer, sharper nails ripped through the tips of his gloves.  
Kneeling down next to him, the women took one of his monstrous hands in hers and pulled the remainder of his glove off not bothered in the slightest by his screams which were surely piercing her eardrums.  
“See! Look at them, aren't they so beautiful my precious assistant? Aren’t they such a lovely shade green?! I know you like green!”  
She said, forcibly moving the clawed hand in front of his face as at the same white hairs that were still sprouting around his neck began to appear on his wrist.  
Faba’s screams hitched now sounding less pain filled and more terrified, weakly jerking his still changing hands away from her and pulling them to his chest.  
“Now, now my pet you don't need to hide your hands, we want to see those wonderful changes, do we not?”  
The women questioned, making another grab for his hands when several louder grotesque * snaps!* drew her attention to Faba's legs which had started twitching uncontrollably as their entire structure painfully changed; his kneecap narrowing, thighs thickening, and muscles cramping up and shifting to fit the new shape of his leg.  
Curing up on himself the man continued to scream for someone anyone to help him as Lusamine's smiled sweetly, sitting down criss-cross on the floor before gathering Faba into her arms like one would a distressed child and gently starting to stroke his hair.  
“It’s ok my precious assistant. I Know it hurts, but I promise all the pain will be worth it in the end, you’re being made perfect!”  
A light flush was suddenly visible on Faba’s pale cheeks as his changing legs caused his pant legs to distort then rip down the sides.  
Exposing his now pokemon-like back legs, dark green scales beginning to visibly grow on top of them.  
“L..Lusamine! Lusamine! P..please make it stop! It..it hurts!”  
Faba cried his body wracking with spasms as two light green nubs grew out just above his ears ripping some of his skin away as they did so, splattering small droplets of crimson on the man's hair and Lusamine’s dress.  
“Horns!” she exclaimed as the nubs got much thicker and longer reaching out a foot in length until they finally stopped, blood dripping from the ends of them.  
Meanwhile, the changes to his legs continued, the bones of his foot snapping as his heel stretched out.  
His toes like all his fingers sharpened into a pair of deadly claws that ripped through his mostly shredded boots along with two dark green spikes that grew from his heels, his foot now changed in such a way he would be forced to walk on the balls of his feet.  
More white fur then grew just above his new claws just as elsewhere, the white fluff on his neck and wrist had just about finished sprouting.  
The fur on his neck now showing an uncanny resemblance to a Pyroar's mane.  
Especially as it began to grow around his chin, surprisingly leaving his goatee the same shape and color.  
“Oh! Just look at those lovely horns you’ve grown! I wish you could see them for yourself my pet, and-”  
The women gasped in surprise, “your legs they’ve almost completely transformed! Isn’t that lovely?” she cooed as the dark green scales continued to grow up his arms and legs.  
Faba shook his head rapidly, his screams distorting as with a few dozen crunches and pops his nose and chin started to push out.  
“No, no, no my sweet”  
She purred as Fabas clawed hands moved from his chest to push at the tip of his still growing maw accidentally clawing off his iconic visors in the process as if attempting to stop or at least delay the changes happening to his face.  
His pawing proved to be in vain as his features were pulled in a vertical downward motion and morphed into a sharp point that wasn’t all too different from something you would see on a dragon type, scales now forming on his chest and stomach.  
“There's no need to hide your beautiful face, my precious assistant! Come now I want to see that muzzle of yours!”  
Light green scales then formed on patches on the man's face as his skull became more oval in shape, the top of his head flattening out and the binge of his nose filling in.  
Leaving no indent from his forehead to the tip of his muzzle.  
Lusamine stopped her petting for a moment to roughly bat his claws away and grabbed by the chin, forcing him to look up at her with his watering blue eyes.  
“See there we go! What a nice muzzle you have!”  
Faba jerked his head away from her as the women ran her fingers down his maw, making an ugly gurgling noise before vomiting up a large bloody mass of the floor next her, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as it lengthened, two parts growing away from the rest and ending into two points, giving his tongue a forked look.  
The scientist was sobbing aloud by now and Lusmine even thought he had somehow uttered out Wicke’s name a few times as if she would somehow hear him. His arms then started to reshaping to become about the same length of his legs and moving to a more animal-like position, making them more like another pair of legs than arms.  
Many cracking sounds then came from the male's ribs, his chest pushing out and sides expanding just as his canines got longer and sharper.  
The two teeth becoming so long that they poked a few inches out of his mouth.  
Tears of fear and pain streamed down his face that was now covered in scales as his ears stretched out and become bat-like in shape.  
His ears grew a layer of short blond fur and flattened against his head before they even finished transforming all the way, panting heavily as a bone grading screeching sounds erupted from deep within his throat.  
“What lovely ears you have now, my pet” The twisted women complied, patting them a few times as his hair was yanked into his head, scales quickly forming on where it used to be.  
“Hmmm” she hummed softly, not looking too bothered that Faba no longer had any hair she could stroke and instead started to run her fingers through the fur around his neck and chin.  
Her face lighting up in surprise for a moment as her fingers brushed against his ruffled goatee,  
“Oh look! I think you will be happy to hear that your goatee I know you’re so proud of is still th-”  
Lusamine's words were abruptly cut off by the loudest *snap* yet that came from the transforming man's spine.  
The bone visibly bending and snapping under the invisible pressure like a flimsy stick. A gut-wrenching cry instantly following as Faba was rendered four legged.  
“Hush, now there no need to cry”  
Lusamine told him, wiping the tears from his much more glassy distant eyes.  
“Your metamorphosis is nearing completion! All your imperfections are melting away!”  
A violent shudder ran through Faba’s unnatural form as wet, popping, squelching noise came from his sides, large patches of blood appearing on the sides of his coat as something moved beneath his clothing.  
The women looked delighted at the strange movements, “Your stingers!... they’re coming in all at once!”  
Three spider leg-like appendages then ripped free from the hold of his sweater and lab on both of his sides.  
All three of them covered in blood and chunks of the ‘man's’ flesh.  
The new legs begin to strike and rake the ground around them as if to try and get away, leaving long uneven scratch marks on the blood splattered marble floor.  
“Stop that at one my beast! You're going to ruin my floor!”  
She scolded, sinking her long nails into his neck.  
Faba let out a distorted scream continuing to scratch at it for a few more times before the stingers folded up by his sides, the six of them still twitching slightly thus ripping his clothing further.  
A large part of his mind wanting to instinctively obey Lusamine's commands.  
Rather this was out of fear or because of the strange serum the women injected in him or not Faba was too far gone to even remotely comprehend.  
Scales started to then form on his back in colors of not just green, but in speckles of white and gold as well.  
Whimpers resignated from the Branch Chief as he instinctively attempted to remove the remainder of his tattered clothing off his vastly different body.  
Lusamine didn't bother to help him, looking almost amused at his struggle, and how his claws continually got caught in the fabric.  
“How pretty!” She exclaimed once he finally managed to shred the remainder of his precious tailoring, revealing his scale covered back ware a few dozen more leaf-shaped scales that stood out from the others grew from his shoulder blades to down to his lower back.  
“The design always looked so gorgeous on the computer, but seeing it’s much more magnificent seeing on you in person!”  
The only response the debatably sane women got was more gurgling sounds before he threw up a few more mouthfuls of blood just as the ‘man’s’ spine started to stretch out in the opposite direction, painfully pulling skin, muscle, and veins with it.  
Weakly, Faba screeched the cry sounding more monstrous than human as the tail grew at an agonizingly slow pace, dark green scales growing on top of it.  
“What a wonderful tail you’re growing”  
Lusamine said as she shifted Faba in her arms, making him lie like a large dog in her lap, allowing the already long tail to grow out of her lap and trail out on the floor.  
The growth only stopping once it reached a few inches short of half a meter, the tail instantly going in between his scaly legs.  
More of the leaf-shaped scales grew on his new tail as Faba whimpered, his already foggy mind getting cloudier and cloudier, the pain made it harder, and harder for him to recall the plot of his favorite movie, the brand of shampoo he used, the title of his favorite book and even as some time passed his own name.  
He attempted to desperately latch to his humanity, to his identity, but it was of no real use as everything he’s ever known or done all slipped from his grasp like sand through one's fingers.  
He was just in so much pain, every molecule of his battered body hurt so badly too weak to further grasp onto his intelligence and demeanor as they faded into the back of his mind.  
Memories that he once held so dear melting into a muddled clump and ripping in odd places that they shouldn't be ripped.  
Leaving the poor creature with nothing more than his emotions and instincts to guide him along with fragments of broken memories he couldn’t grasp nor understand.  
“Come now my beautiful beast, you mustn't do that!” Lusamine purred as Faba squeezed his now changing eyes shut, clawing at them relentlessly, letting out loud distressed wails at both the pain and the loss of something he couldn’t remember.  
Lusamine sighed in annoyance then forcefully opened his eyes watching in sick pleasure as the blue of his eyes completely covered the other colors apart from his pupils which became narrowed slits, while the shape of his eyes themselves become larger and turned more diamond in shape.  
“It’s done! It’s finally complete!”  
She yelled astatically, cupping her bloodstained hands together.  
“Oh, you're perfect! So wonderfully beautifully perfect! More so than I ever could have imagined!”  
Tears of joy dripped from Lusamine's eyes as she tenderly pat Fabas misshapen head, ignoring his continued screeching.  
Slowly standing up, the women walked gracefully to her phone, leaving Faba to lie alone and in immense pain on the cold floor.  
“Oh, Assistant Branch Chief Malachite I am ever so pleased with you and your employees work on the project I assigned!” She told him once he picked up, “I'm happy to inform you that the serum was a wonderful success!”  
“The.. the serum?” the male replied sounding lost for a moment.  
“Madam President... you don't mean to tell me you used the serum on him already did you?! With all due respect Ma’am it wasn’t perfected yet!”  
“That matters not” Lusamine dismissed  
“The only thing that matters is I have my beast and you will be promoted as you wish as Faba is after all..”  
She glanced momently at the creature that used to be a person.  
“Unable to hold his place as Branch Chief any longer, if you still want it that is”  
“Really? Oh, thank you Madam President! Thank you! I’m happy to accept the role! O...Oh! Er.. do you need me to send someone to clean up the mess? There is a mess correct?  
“Yes, there's a mess an awfully big one at that, but it can wait for the time being, I wish to spend more time with my new beast.”  
“An awfully big mess, huh?” Malachite echoed, amusement and smugness clear in his tone.  
“The transformation must have been agonizing” The man paused as if collecting himself and cleared his throat, “Errr, I’ll be sure to send someone over in about an hour to clean up the mess Ma’am we wouldn't want it to stain!”  
Lusamine smiled, “That would be fantastic Branch Chief Malachite thank you, now if you’ll excuse me I really must be going my beast is screaming for me already”  
And with that, she hung up without even allowing Malachite to exchange his own goodbyes.  
Back on the floor, Faba shrunk raw terror flashing in his eyes as the blond women slowly approached him.  
“It’s alright my beautiful beast, there's no need to be scared, no need to be frightened I’m here.”


	4. Unexpected Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Daymond is a horrible person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heres yet another chapter for everyone!  
> Things get slowly more and more messed up from here and we're going to be stuck in my boy Daymond's point of view for a while and get more background on Malachite I know I could have easily made him an evil one-dimensional villain, but really hate writing charters like that because their boring as hell in my opinion.  
> Don't worry if you're afraid of not seeing beast Faba though! we'll see him quite a lot when Daymond’s not being a guilty little whiny bitch and I mean the poor bean gets no break what so ever.  
> Also again my grammar and sentence structure aren't the best so sorry in advance!

Let's get one thing straight, Daymond hated Faba, as did most within the foundations.  
The man was selfish and arrogant, overly proud and show-offy, egotistical and self-absorbed.  
There was little to actually like about him in Daymond’s opinion.  
Just yesterday he had been insulting Faba behind his back to his fellow coworkers.  
Last week he had openly wished something horrible would happen to the man, something that would knock him off his extremely high Mudsdale.  
Something that would give the bastard a taste of his own medicine, and crush that prideful spirit of his into a fine powder.  
He wanted to see that happen he really did, Faba deserved it after all, and always imagined these things happening in a comedic fashion with Faba crying a river of tears and everything ending clean and happy, but this… this wasn’t one of Daymond’s fantasies, this was all real.  
The blood on his hands… that was real, the ripped articles of clothing scattering the floor… that was real too. And the horrible pain filled screeching coming from the creature that used to be human was real as well.  
Real, real oh Arceus this was all real.  
There was blood, blood, so much blood all over his hands as he scrubbed at the drying crimson puddles on the ground in a desperate attempt to get rid of the mess as he was commanded to, trying in vain to block out ‘Faba’s’ screams.  
Daymond felt ready to vomit, wanting to do nothing more than to retreat somewhere far, far away and forget everything relating to Faba, the Foundations, and most of all the part he played in turning his all-around hated superior into that… that thing.  
“Come my beautiful beast” he could hear Lusamine purr in a sickly sweet tone, her heels clicking to signifying she was walking toward to the doors.  
The scientist fought back a shiver as he could feel her piercing gaze fall upon him, “I expect this floor to be spotless in no more than an hour, understood?”  
“Y...Yes, Madam President” he managed unable to keep the fear out of his voice, very relieved at the fact he had his helmet on so the women couldn't see his surely terrified expression as he looked up to meet her eyes.  
He wasn’t able to suppress his shiver this time when the president smiled at him and took a few more steps toward the door only for her to stop and slowly look back over to Faba.  
“I said come my precious assistant” She commanded, her warm demeanor melting like ice in the Alolan sun.  
Daymond‘s eyes drifted over to Faba unable to tear them way as his boss scrambled around on the floor as if trying to obey the woman's orders, but in too much pain to properly do so.  
He could hear Lusamine start to tap her foot in impatience, a stern glare mostly likely on her face.  
“Now, my beast.”  
Faba whimpered, his whole body trembling all over with exhaustion and fear as he slowly began to drag himself over to her in an eerily human-like fashion, trailing smears of blood all over the floor behind him.  
“Good.” the blond women praised, not looking at all concerned by his unsettling movements.  
She ran her hand down his skull then her and Faba departed from the rooms without saying another word.  
Daymond watched them go, continuing to stare at the now closed door for several minutes with the look of horror frozen beneath his helmet.  
“Holy fucking christ” he whispered before he could stop himself, forcing back the bile that was rising in his throat.  
The Ultra Beast Project...  
Damn it! If he would’ve known something this bad would be the end result of the experiment he would have at least tried to warn Faba!  
Oh, don’t act so surprised!  
A voice snapped at him from the back of his mind, you knew for a fact the project involved Faba, and you knew whatever serum crap you and the others were making was going to be injected into him!  
“Y..ya, but I didn’t think it would hurt him, at least not to this extent!” Daymond argued meekly, guilt already beginning to claw at his gut.  
The voice in his head scoffed, are you that stupid to believe injecting something that's made from the DNA of a foreign pokemon wouldn't hurt? Come on now! You and the others had a good idea that what President Lusamine was going to do to poor Faba was going to hurt! especially when Archer came up with the brilliant idea to make the stingers rip out from his back, and yet you didn’t do anything to warn him did you? In fact, I remember you becoming quite eager to work on this particular project after Malachite mentioned that it would teach Faba a lesson.  
“Shut up!” Daymond hissed through clenched teeth, not wanting to hear anything else from the depths of his guilty conscious.  
Wanting to scream back denials that he didn’t know it would happen like this, that he just thought the project would embarrass the bastard a little, that maybe Faba was screaming just to scream and actually wasn’t in that much pain, but all this wasn't convincing to him in the slightest.  
Once again Daymond’s head had been in the clouds imagining the effects of the serum on Faba without any realism or suffering, and as always reality was more than glad to pull him out of his fantasies and into the cruel bluntness of real life.  
“Shut up” he growled again, despite the fact his conscience hadn’t said anything else as of now.  
Why did Malachite have to ask him to clean up this mess of all people anyway?!  
This was grunt work!  
Why couldn’t he have called some other poor sap and let them clean up Faba’s blood, let them hear his screams, let them snap out of their illusions, and have their hands stained with blood and not him.  
If it were them Daymond would have been able to convince himself that the serum couldn’t have hurt him that badly.  
Then he would go about his life without the guilt and emptiness he now felt.  
Why did it have to be him!?  
Could it have something to do with what Malachite had said to him before sending him here that; “he would enjoy what he saw”.  
No, It couldn't have… Malachite was a good person there was no way he would have thought Daymond would have enjoyed seeing something like this or that he even knew the extent what awaited him in the office, but that glint in his eye…  
Daymond squeezed his eyes shut, taking a few deep breaths to calm his rapidly beating heart.  
He needed to calm down, he was talking to himself for Pete's sake!  
Faba shouldn't, didn’t matter!  
He had to stop thinking about all this and put all his mental capacity in getting the blood off the floor before his hour was up.  
After seeing what she had done to her most loyal, he dreaded to think what she would do to a mere employee like him even if he was higher up on the food chain.  
If he had been a better man Daymond might have tried to save Faba from the torture he was currently undergoing by helping him escape the moment he was left alone or leave this place at this very moment to tell someone outside the foundations what Lusamine had done to her Branch Chief, but Daymond was no such man.  
His fear of what the president would do to him if he was caught helping or punishment from the law enforcement for his involvement won out over his sense of right and wrong.  
There was no way he was putting himself on the line for Faba of all people.  
Daymond snatched up a few of the cleaning materials from and continued to relentlessly scrub at the ground willing himself to momentarily forget where the blood came from, seriously regretting taking his gloves off to avoid staining them.  
Maybe, just maybe… everything would be ok in the end!  
He was just being dramatic!  
The pain Faba was in was bound to stop eventually and it wasn’t as if Lusamine was going to start torturing him or anything!  
In fact, he knew for certain the women would pamper him to no end!  
Faba had always been the president's personal bitch, now it was just more pronounced is all.  
Really, if he thought about it the only thing that had really changed was that the bastard wouldn't be able to be rude or boss them around anymore, He probably couldn’t even talk like that! it was almost as good as him being gone!  
And it wasn’t as if they were depriving any one of a loved one as he was pretty sure Faba didn’t have any friends or even a family in fact, he had even heard rumors that his brother Petrel was a part of the nefarious team rocket, he also doubted anyone would care if the man up and vanished.  
Over time he would probably even end up liking his new form, as horrible as Faba had been acting when he had seen him mere minutes ago that was right after he had transformed, Faba would adapt eventually, he had to.  
He forced a small smile on his face ignoring the sickness he felt toward himself at just thinking these things.  
He knew forcing himself to believe these things were wrong, but if it stopped the soul-crushing guilt so be it, not all those things were completely false anyways.  
He could almost believe it himself.  
Daymond sighed and stood up, his knees popping as he did so.  
He had done a good job cleaning if he did say so himself beside a few scratch marks and the ripped clothing it was as if nothing sinister had taken place here at all.  
Wanting to get out of the office as soon as humanly possible he quickly disposed of the shredded garments, purposely leaving Faba’s visors as they were on the floor.  
Too afraid of the crippling guilt coming back if he so much as touched something that was so iconic to the man.  
Throwing them away just felt wrong.  
Turning away from the visors Daymond scooped up the cleaning supplies he had brought and swiftly departed as fast as his legs could manage as if he was leaving hells gates themselves and not his bosses office.  
Doing the best he could to hide his bloody hands from view, his whole body itching with the sense to wash them or better yet shower, a large part of him knowing fully well that no matter how hard he scrubbed Faba’s blood would forever stain his hands.


	5. And So i̶t̶  he Screamed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the employees are guilty and Malachite really needs to chill the fuck out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! here's yet another chapter for yall the plots going to start moving a little slowly from here on out, but I personally think some of these scenes are relatively decent slow or not.  
> Also, you may not be getting any real action scenes for a while, but you'll be getting plenty of emotional anguish, self-hatred, and mental break down's from some of the employees were going to meet Daymond especially!  
> Anyways I hope you enjoy reading this and as my grammar and sentence structure aren't the best I apologize in advance for any mistakes you might see!

Just about everyone in the labs visibly cringed as yet another long pain filled screech rang through the air.  
“Shouldn't the pain have worn off a little by now?” a blond scientist named Samantha asked, a disturbed look on her face.  
“It’s been more than a week for Arceus sake!”  
The other scientists didn’t reply for a moment, not having an answer to give her.  
“I… I think it’s because the serum was injected prematurely, I'm honestly surprised that it didn’t kill him as soon as the needle was stuck into him!”  
A shaggy-haired man he knew as Roy eventually replied.  
“Do… do you think it’s safe to give him some pain relief or something?” Daymond asked the group, nervously biting at his gloved thumb.  
Roy opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get anything out a gurgling noise interrupted him.  
Daymond grimaced, turning his head just in time to see ‘Faba’ who was lying on a large metal table in the middle of the lab to vomit blood all over the table and floor.  
“Oh no.. not again!” Francesca growled, her red hair whipping behind her as she firmly pat Faba on the back in a half-hearted effort to help him expel more of the crimson liquid.  
Roy ran a hand over his helmet that he was holding and sighed, “I’m not sure Daymond, now that he’s like this. I'm not sure if we should give him human or pokemon medication, but I suppose we should try giving it to him in small doses and see how his body reacts to that and if that fails it might take a while, but we can always make something from scratch.”  
“We should probably start off with Propane or Morpheme… ” Franchesca murmured, continuing to gently pat the creatures back as Faba began to scream again.  
“Are you sure? That's some strong stuff, Francesca shouldn't we start with something a little lighter?”  
Franchesca jerked her head toward Samantha her hazel eyes flashing with frustration, “Look at him, Samantha! Branch Chief Faba has barely stopped screaming since the President did this to him! Do you honestly think anything lower than that will do anything for him?!”  
Faba’s entire body jolted as he stared up at the tan women, blue eyes swimming with recognition, confusion, and pain.  
“You’re not supposed to call him that anymore!”  
Daymond cried out, the words tasting like ash in his mouth.  
The redhead gave him a cold, disgusted look before turning back to Faba, patting his back and whispering inaudible things to him in a soft, yet firm voice.  
After a stretch of silence, Roy cleared his thought “I agree Franchesca, over the counter prescription is by far the best bet to at least numb his pain-”  
*Weeeeeeeeer*  
As soon the black haired man finished the metal door to the lab slowly slide open, revealing a slim, but muscular blue-green eyed man.  
Daymond eyed him warily.  
“Ass-Branch Chief Malachite!” Samantha greeted, looking confused.  
“Sir I thought you were in a meeting with the President?”  
“I was, but it ended earlier than I expected,” he replied, his head held high as he entered staring expectantly at Roy.  
“Now are it’s vitals normal? Nothing unusual I hope.”  
“They’re as normal as they were during the last check up sir, but the pain hasn’t died down as we’d hoped, so we think we should begin to give him I… I mean it some pain re-”  
“No”  
“But sir! You didn’t even let him finish!” Francesca argued.  
“It’s pain… Tell me will it cripple, injure, or eventually kill it? minus the blood vomiting of course you know we’re going to fix that soon.  
“No sir, but-”  
“Than I see no real reason to give it anything” Malachite shrugged, “It will just be a waste of our valuable time, and resources”  
“But Mal-S… sir!” Daymond finally spoke up as another scream rung out.  
“H- it won't stop screaming! it… it’s starting to freak me out!”  
“Don’t worry Daymond, myself and the President have spoken about putting a muzzle on it.”  
“A… A muzzle!?” Samantha yelped as the others tried to badly hide their looks of horror.  
Malachite was just saying that, wasn’t he?  
He was just playing around like usual, right?  
He wouldn’t just knowingly sit back and do nothing while Faba was in that much pain, would he?  
Daymond wondered, although already knowing the answer.  
The truth was all on the malistic pleasure on Malachites face whenever his old boss let out a scream. “Yes a muzzle, it’s just a beast Samantha and it’ll stop it from further hurting its vocal cords and distressing the staff.”  
“Sir! That's inhu-” Franchesca started in disbelief before Malachite cut her off again, “My decision is final” he said firmly.  
“None of you will be giving it painkillers of any kind and if it's screaming continues lets say a week or so after the interaural surgeries, we will muzzle it am I clear?”  
“Yes sir” they all muttered, none of them looking happy in the slightest especially Franchesca who had looked down to the floor in what Daymond first thought was surrender to hide her expression of rage.  
“Good, I'm glad we’ve come to an understanding, now just give me the check-up report and I’ll be on my way with the President's ultra beast.”  
“Of course M-Branch Chief, I'll bring it to you immediately.” Daymond insisted, snatching the vanilla folder that was placed by his own helmet and handing it to the man.  
Malachite smiled at him and tucked it under his arm, “Thank you Daymond” he said then turned to Faba the smile quickly turning to a grimace.  
“Come!” he demanded, stomping the floor twice with his left foot.  
On the table Faba flinched, tongue lolling out of his mouth to pant heavily.  
Franchesca nudged him gently, trying to coax him to go through with the man's order, but Faba didn’t budge and even let out a growl when Malachite called him for a second time.  
So he was still disobeying Malachite just like he was disobeying the rest of them?  
If he were alone Daymond would have chuckled bitterly, even like when he didn't have any real choice the bastard was still so stuck up, not listening to anyone but President Lusamine.  
It was a real problem actually, he had even heard that Faba had even tried to stab Malachite a few times with those stingers of his, apparently it had gotten so bad that Malachite was going to start one on one training sessions with him to train him out of his old mindset, but Daymond couldn’t see him being successful in this, no one could out train that stubborn attitude out of Faba!  
“I said come!” Malachite suddenly snapped, yanking the creature roughly by his mane causing Faba to fall to the floor with a yelp of pain.  
Daymond along with Samantha flinched, Roy looked away and Francesca’s hands curled into fists.  
None of them attempting to intervene as the four of them knew it wouldn’t do anything except make the atmosphere of the room more tense and uncomfortable than it already was.  
“I demand it of you!”  
Again, Faba didn't obey remaining to lie unmoving on the floor apart from the occasional twitch.  
Malachite’s face screwed up in annoying, muttering something about training and pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh.  
“Lusamine?” he gritted out.  
Faba’s scaley head slowly rose to look at him, bat ears twitching to confirm he was listening and somewhat understood what Malachite was saying.  
“We’ve been over this before, come with me and I’ll take you back to Lusamine. You want to go to her like a good beast don’t you? You wouldn’t want to keep her waiting, it would upset her.”  
The creature made a strangled noise then slowly dragged himself over to Malachite with his long scaly tail between his legs, and bat ears now flatted to the sides of his head.  
Daymond shuttered, this was the fifth time he had seen Faba do this and it still unsettled him to no end.  
Malachite gave them a wave along with a strained smile, “I bid you all a goodbye for now, and Mr. Roy don’t forget to have the updates on the collar by tonight!”  
Daymond’s ears pricked up, a collar?  
A shock one?  
They only used those for the really mean, aggressive pokemon, was it for that violent Hypno perhaps?  
It had nearly cracked open the heads of his subordinates open after all.  
“Yes sir”  
Daymond shook his head, “Goodbye sir” he said followed by the others and with that Malachite turned and left the labs with Faba dragging himself behind him with a series of human-like screams.  
It was only when the screams faded that the four finally untensed and glanced at each other.  
“Is the Branch Chief really not going to let us give him any pain relief? We can’t just let him be in pain like that! It’s...not right.” Samantha said voice laced with uncertainty.  
“You're damn right it's not right!” Franchesca snarled, her fist’s shaking as if she was resisting punching something.  
“What we're doing is basically fucking torture and no one seems to give a shit! They're all just sitting back and watching like it's the dandiest fucking thing in the world!”  
“Franchesca please-” Roy said, raising a hand motioning for her to stop.  
“I wouldn’t say things like that if you don’t want to be fired or worse, you-”  
The man glanced at Daymond, “Never know who’s listening”  
Daymond flinched but didn’t say anything to defend himself.  
“Y-You're telling us to do nothing!?” Franchesca spluttered.  
“For everyone in the foundation's sake, yes! What do you think the President will do if anyone is caught helping him? They themselves won't just get punished, but everyone else will too! Innocent people! Who didn’t have anything to do with it! And if he just up and vanishes, you know President Lusamine will never stop looking for him, she might just even make a new beast by sticking a needle into some other poor soul.”  
Daymond nodded along with the words, feeling his guilty conscious easing a little.  
“Besides Franchesca, if anyone deserves this it’s Faba.”  
“W...What!? No one-”  
“You think he’d help any of us or even give a single crap if the President stuck a needle in one of our necks?!”  
Francesca stared at Roy with her mouth agape, glancing a Daymond for a moment before snapping it shut.  
“Y..your right Roy. He..he wouldn't care, you’re right. It's not worth risking someone's humanity for someone like Faba.”  
“Better him than anyone else,” Daymond said bleakly.  
Samantha turned away from all of them, looking sick to the bone then left without saying goodbye.  
“Uhhh, I guess I should get going as well. Bye Franchesca, Daymond.” Roy said after a few seconds of awkward silence, then he to left with that stoic mask still on his face, leaving him alone with Francesca.  
“I better get going too Franchesca, my shifts about to end and I really need to try getting some sleep..”  
“Why’s that? Guilty conscious Daymond?” the women asked darkly.  
Daymond glared at her weakly, “Hardly, like Roy said Franchesca if anyone deserves this it’s Faba!”  
Francesca’s only reply was to glance down at the blood on the floor then back to him with a raised eyebrow.  
“If you're not guilty then what’s the reason you’re so eager to leave? Is it because you don’t want to get his blood all over your hands?”  
“Again” mocked a voice in the back of his head.  
“Screw you” Daymond hissed at both the voice and Francesca, grabbing his helmet from the table.  
The redhead snorted, “So that's a yes then? That’s just what I would expect from a weak coward like you.”  
Too angry for words Daymond simply flipped her off and stomped away wishing the door wasn’t a siding one so he could slam it.  
“Very mature Daymond!” Francesca called after him to which he ignored.  
He pulled his helmet on and angrily began the trek to his quarters, muttering to himself as he usually did.  
He was so angry in fact that it slipped his mind to have used the older hallways he had been using recently to avoid seeing a certain ‘ultra beast’ any more than he needed to.  
“I can’t believe she said that to me! I'm not a coward, I'm just being tactical! It’s not like I'm calling her a rude, hot-headed bitch to her face! I hardly even know her for mew's sake, so why the hell is she talking to me like I just kicked her Growlithe?”  
He had a sneaking suspicion it was probably because of all the comments he had made about Faba over the past week, but she was acting like he was the only one responsible for what happened when the truth was she was just as guilty as him!  
“AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHRRR!” Daymond flinched as Faba’s screech echoed through the hallway sounding too close for his liking.  
Damn! He must have gone down the normal route by mistake!  
Daymond slowed, half tempted to go all the way back and take the longer hall, but before he did so Francesca's insult repeated in his head.  
“I'm not a coward” he grunted and quickened his pace.  
“And besides it’s not like you’re going anything to help him Franchesca, you stupid hypocrite!”  
A *thud* suddenly rang through the air followed by Faba’s cry of pain, then another thud and another cry of pain, another thud…  
Daymond brown eyes widened, it sounded like someone was hitting Faba!  
In a flash, he jogged down the hall and turned the corner just in time to see Malachite deliver a sharp kick to Faba’s flank.  
Daymond froze like a Deerling in headlights, his heart dropping like a heavy stone in his chest.  
“Bad!” the Branch Chief bellowed, his eyes nearly bulging out of his skull as he waved a disapproving finger at him,  
“You obey me! You understand you stupid beast!? You are not my superior anymore! You’re not anyone's superior any more! You’re just the President's pet! I really hope you have enough intelligence left to understand this; that you deserve this you bastard! You treated us all like things! treated all those Pokémon in the labs so horribly! Well now… look how the tables have turned you're our little lab Ratta now, ironic isn’t it!?”  
Malachite gave him another kick this time to his foreleg.  
“And even though you don’t remember a damn thing, you're still as arrogant as ever! Disobeying everyone and growling at me! You really need to learn your new place!”  
Faba whimpered, raising one of his clawed hands above his head and attempting to scoot away from him with his back legs.  
The action looked so human it made Daymond’s stomach twist.  
“Again with the fucking crawling you’re not hurt! I’m sure if you actually tried you could walk just fine!”  
Malachite reached over with his gloved hand toward Faba and yanked him up by his mane.  
“Come on! We’ve been over this, all your claws on the floor! All of them!” he snarled, maneuvering the creature's limbs in a standing position then letting go only for Faba’s legs to slide out from under him not even seconds later, a lot like newly hatched pokemon when attempting to walk for the first time.  
Faba turned his head to him, anguished filled eyes meating his own like he was begging for Daymond to help him.  
Malachite followed his gaze, ocean eyes widening when he spotted him.  
“Daymond is that you?”  
“Y..Ya Malachite, it’s me”  
A grin instantly stretched across the man's face, “Oh good! I was hoping I’d run into you!”  
He exclaimed walking over to Daymond to pat him on the shoulder, “Sorry we haven’t been able to talk much outside work where we have to be so annoyingly professional”  
The darker skinned man forced a smile, tensing under his friend's grip.  
He had seen Lusamine and a handful of other employees punish Faba for disobedience with a small kick or smack over the head, but the punishments had never been extensive or as brutal than the one he had just witnessed. It had been more of a full-on beating than a punishment.  
Arceus, Malachite wasn’t doing this all the time when no one was around was he?  
Daymond gave a small shake of his head, no… this had to be a one-time thing from stress or overworking or something.  
“It’s ok Malachite you’ve been busy with The Ultra Beast Project and attending to your duties as Branch Chief, I'm not surprised you don’t have any free time to hang out.”  
If Malachite could sense his tension he didn’t show it because the man just continued to smile at him.  
“Being a Branch Chief is definitely a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be, no wonder the bean man had no life outside work!”  
Daymond shifted uncomfortably, a little disturbed at just how nonchalantly Malachite insulted Faba after he had just relentlessly kicked him.  
“Ya...Uhh-” he stammered, taking a small step away from Malachite and glanced backward.  
“I better get going, I really need to go to bed and try and get some sleep”  
Malachites face fell, “Sleep? It’s still pretty early, have you not been able to sleep lately?”  
Daymond nodded mutely, flinching one again as Faba whimpered from the floor.  
The Branch Chief didn't even spare him a glance just sighed and shook his head.  
“I guess I should get going too Daymond, I need to deliver this-” he motioned his head at Faba.  
“To the President before she starts getting impatient”  
“Y...You do that, I wouldn’t want you getting in trouble on my account!”  
Malachite gave him another small smile and jabbed Faba sharply with his boot urging the creature to start moving again.  
“Bye Daymond hopefully, you can get some sleep!”  
Daymond gave his friend a small wave than full on sprinted away from Faba and Malachite, having an itching feeling he was going to have yet another sleepless night.


	6. Growing Burdens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Daymond is one selfish boi, Roy is in denial and Malachite’s just trying to have a nice chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hello!  
> So I have bad news and good news, the bad news is in about a week or two I'm going out of state, so I won't be able to update for a while, but the good news is after that since I'm out of school I will probably be updating more frequently!  
> If I'm not too busy being a lazy bum and watching murder mysteries on the couch all day that is...  
> Anyway's I hope you enjoy this chapter and I also apologize in advance for any incorrect sentence structure and horrible grammar.

“You’re sure this is completely necessary Ma’am?” Daymond asked the President, his eyes flickering from her to Faba who now wore a large metal collar around his neck that was white in color and had the golden symbol of the Aether foundation engraved on the front, back, and sides along with a few golden diamonds by the logos.  
Besides him, Roy stiffened giving him a quick sideways glance that screamed at him to shut up.  
“Of course it’s necessary!!” Lusamine said, tracing the vine like etchings on the remote she was holding with her thumb.  
“You want my beast to start obeying you better don’t you? I know his disobedience makes your work all the more difficult, especially for Branch Chief Malachite.”  
“Of course Madam President… I meant no disrespect, you… you are very compassionate to be concerned about us”  
Lusamine’s lips curled into a small smile, “I know” she said as she ran a hand through Faba’s fluffy mane.  
“I really am too kind to you employees”  
The woman’s eyes drifted back to her remote, “Have you tested it on him yet Mr. Roy?”  
“Not yet Ma’am Branch Chief Malachite was going to try it out when he trains with him later today. Were… you not informed that this was planned?”  
Lusamine nodded thoughtfully, “Ahhh yes I think he mentioned something along those lines, but that matters not now. I wish to test the collar out on him now, I don’t want my Branch Chief doing it. I want to be the first person to do this to him"  
“N… now!?! But Ma’am!” He let out a strangled gasp as Roy roughly jammed his elbow into his side.  
“Whatever you think is best Ma’am,” Roy said giving Daymond another firm look to keep his mouth shut.  
“Do… do you want me to stay Madam Present? You only really need one other employee for this part of the training correct? I would just get in the way.”  
Roy exhaled sharply and clenched his teeth.  
Daymond didn’t care if leavening him made Roy angry with him, he didn’t want to see this.  
“Oh Mr. Daymond don’t worry, you won’t get in the way at all! All you have to do is stand there and call for him to come.”  
“Y… yes Ma’am,” he said looking to Faba who as usual was quivering by Lusamine. His tail in between his legs and he was panting raggedly, now finally standing on his shaky legs.  
“Err.. come!” He demand, stomping the ground with his foot and pointing at the ground beside him.  
Faba let out a small whimper and didn’t move from Lumines side.  
Damn it he didn’t want to see this! Why couldn’t Faba just obey someone besides Lusamine for once in his life!?  
It was ironic only a few weeks ago he was happy that something of Faba’s nature stuck with him, but now he wished it would just go away, but he knew it wouldn’t not any time soon at least.  
Arceus please, he didn’t want to see this.  
“Come, now!” This time Roy yelled but still, Faba didn’t move.  
“Bad!! Bad beast!!” Lusamine snapped, who had stopped petting Faba, she glared coldly at him before she pushed the button.  
Daymond squeezed his eyes shut and looked away as a hoarse scream that sounded all too human seemed to shake the hallway along with the static buzz of the collar.  
The shocking only lasted for about fifteen seconds before Lusamine lifted her finger.  
Still, even if she was done Daymond didn’t look not wanting to see the creature spasm on the floor and claw at his new collar in a pathetic attempt to get it off.  
“Again” the President commanded, “Call him again Mr. Roy, I don’t want to stop until he obeys”  
A small shudder ran through Daymond, something about her tone made him extremely uneasy, she sounded almost amused and carefree as if breaking Faba was some sort of sick game.  
“C…come n… now!” Roy repeated, sounding shaken beneath his helmet as he pointed at the ground and just like the last time Faba didn’t come.  
“Bad! Bad beast!! You will obey!!” Lusamine scolded, pushing the button again.  
This continued for a good few minutes with Faba refusing to come no matter how loud they called and Lusamine scolding then shocking him for a few seconds.  
Finally, with an unsure whine, he could hear the sharp clicks of Faba’s claws as he got to his feet and walked over toward him and Roy.  
Daymond hadn’t looked at the creature once throughout all this, as always he had stayed turned away.  
“Good beast!” Lusamine purred, shoving the remote back in her pockets and walking over to them with her usual warm smile.  
“Go you two praise him! He deserves it for obeying you at last!”  
“G… Good beast.,” Daymond said after a moment gently patting his head, being careful to not touch the bruises he knew littered his body.  
“Good job… you did a good job” Roy followed.  
“My poor beast I’m sorry I had to shock you, but you need to learn to obey all my employees, I know it’s in your nature to do the opposite, but I've made you perfect, you mustn’t act like that anymore understood?”  
Faba didn’t look at Lusamine he just lowered his head with another whimper.  
Well... at least the surgery had stopped making him scream as much. “you may leave now you two, the collar proves to be very effective! If my beast’s training goes this well with Branch Chief Malachite I'm positive he’ll be obeying all of you without resistance in a few weeks!”  
Daymond swallowed and bowed along with Roy.  
“G… Goodbye Madam President I wish you a good rest of the day!” Roy said, snatching Daymond by the crook of his arm and dragging him a few feet backward.  
“B… Bye President Lusamine!” he called, as Roy pulled him out of sight of Lusamine and Faba which was just fine by him.  
He didn't want to be anywhere near either of them, even if Roy was clearly displeased with him.  
“What was that Daymond?” the man snarled as soon as they were out of earshot.  
“You know you can’t speak to the President like that! You’re smarter than that!" Daymond rubbed the back of his helmet, “I’m… I’m sorry Roy, I haven't really been haven't been thinking too clearly lately”  
Roy stared at him, “I’ve noticed.”  
“I just haven’t been able to get much sleep lately and-”  
“And you think I have?” Roy interrupted,  
Daymond closed his mouth and shrugged weakly, looking to the floor as if he were a child being scolded by their mother.  
“You think anyone who worked on the project has? And yet you don’t see them throwing sad little pity parties for themselves.”  
“Hey! I'm not-”  
“Yes, you are,” the shorter man said firmly.  
“You feel sorry for yourself that you're not getting enough sleep and the way your purposely avoiding the Branch Chief and the Presidents beast and just the way you’re acting, in general, it's pretty obvious. You’re frustrated, aren't you? You’re frustrated that you feel so much guilt for someone like Faba, you want it all just to go away! To up and pretend none of this ever happened.”  
“You… You don’t know anything!”  
“Of course I do, as I said just about everyone involved in The Ultra beast Project feel the exact same as you! You’re not special Daymond, the results of the project don’t rest solely on you so don’t be so arrogant.”  
Daymond looked up at Roy, blinking in confusion.  
“You need to get your head back in the game. Control your emotions, take my advice Daymond, and don’t think of that thing as Faba, as human. He... It might have some of Faba’s old nature, but that thing isn’t Faba any longer, so don’t feel so guilty and horrified about training a mindless ultra beast.”  
The tan man was lost for words, he didn’t have a clue on how to respond to something like that.  
Roy stared at him for a few seconds making Daymond wish he could see through the man's helmet before he turned and walked off without another word.  
“What’s up with Roy?” he mumbled to himself.  
He didn’t know Roy too well, but he knew him well enough to know that pulling him aside and saying stuff like that to him was extremely out of character.  
Roy was stoic, professional, cold and serious he definitely wasn’t one for emotional pep talks, at least he thinks that's what that was.  
The whole speech confused him more than anything at one point Roy had been bashing him than the other trying to comfort him and telling him not to feel guilty?  
The only part he had somewhat understood was the stuff about Faba, he wanted to believe it badly it would make him feel less guilty after all and help him sleep, but even though Daymond wasn’t the most observant of people he was far from an idiot.  
Even if he was avoiding Faba he noticed the way the creature used to drag himself, the way he kept trying to pull himself up on two legs, the way he had shielded himself from Malachite and backed away from him a few weeks ago, the way he clawed at that collar, and the way he kept looking at him; it was all so human.  
It proved one thing for sure, that Faba was a lot more than just a mindless ultra beast.  
Roy wasn’t an idiot either, so why did he come to that conclusion?  
Daymond growled and pushed the palms of his hands to his helmet.  
Ugh, he was too tired both physically and mentally to dwell any more on the other scientist’s words, they most likely didn't mean anything anyways. Roy was sleep deprived too after all probably even more so than him.  
He dragged his hands down his helmet thus smudging it slightly and glanced in the direction of the break room.  
Coffee... He thought more or less forcing the new thought upon himself.  
He was so tired and his shift wasn’t going to end for the next couple of hours, he needed more coffee.  
A cup of black coffee to be precise, or a pot at this rate now that all the ‘excitement’ was over he felt ready to pass out.  
Turning on his heel Daymond then turned and started to the staff room, hoping that he didn’t wind up collapsing on the way there

~

Daymond sighed happily as he held the Pelipper shaped mug in his hands, the warmth sinking through his gloves and to his chilly fingers as he took a long sip, savoring the feeling of the warm liquid traveling down his throat.  
He licked his lips then proceeded to drain the rest of the contents of the mug with a few gulps, droplets of the coffee dripping down his face.  
He wiped his mouth with a white sleeve, which was a bad idea in hindsight as he snatched the pot of coffee from the coffee maker in the corner of his room by his helmet and refilled his mug.  
“Ha ha! Looks like you love that coffee a little too much Daymond!” a formal voice said, teasingly causing a sudden chill to run down his spine.  
The warmth of the coffee draining out of him in a matter of seconds.  
‘O… Oh hey Malachite..” he greeted warily, his grip tightening on the mug.  
“You would think that since things have simmered down I would see more of you, but it's almost like I've been seeing less and less of you. If I didn’t know you any better I would say that you’ve been avoiding me!”  
Daymond flinched and looked up to meet his friend's gaze.  
To his surprise the man was smiling, oh he was joking then, of course he was Malachite loved to tease him.  
“Avoiding you? Can you blame me? Even I can get tired of your annoying ass eventually”  
Malachite playfully punched him in the shoulder, nearly making him spill his coffee.  
“Hey! I’m not that bad!”  
Daymond snorted softly and took another long sip of his drink.  
“Oh, umm Daymon your only helping train a few violent Pokémon after your break aren't you?” the blue-green haired man asked after a moment of silence.  
“Ya.” the brown haired man shrugged taking a few more gulps of his coffee, “We’re making some progress on them, but this one pokemon. A Hypno is being very difficult for us. It's taking forever to break. We’ve hardly made any progress on it!”  
Malachite’s ocean eyes widened, “Oh I didn't know you were helping to retrain Faba’s Pokémon, you usually work with all the rehabilitation stuff..”  
Daymond spat out a mouthful of coffee, coughing violently.  
“Faba’s Pokémon ?! All those pokemon... The Hypno, the Raichu, the Alakazam, and Slowbro, the Claydol and the Bruxish they’re all Faba’s?!”  
“Yes they were all Faba’s, you didn’t know that? Even if you weren't directly told it was pretty obvious, what did you think we did with his Pokémon?”  
“I don’t know!!” he exclaimed slamming his mug on the counter, “But that’s hardly the point! Malachite it’s bad enough we took them from their trainer, but now we're forcing them to obey the commands of people they hardly know about any exclamation!? They’re innocent Pokémon! They don’t have anything to do with how Faba treated us. Even if the Hypno did throw you at the wall that one time! they don't deserve this!”  
Malachite flinched, looking hurt, “You’re saying that like we’re torturing them Daymond, our training might be a little harsh from time to time, but It's hardly torture! I would never hurt a Pokémon like that! Even if they did belong to Faba, no Pokémon deserves that and on the matter of returning them, wouldn’t you rather we retrain then and be given to another trainer than have to be kept in their pokéball for the rest of their lives? Or free them into the Alolan wilderness to die somewhere? Or Arceus forbid putting them in the President's trophy room as she wanted?!”  
The brown-eyed man let out a gasp.  
“This training is by far the most merciful thing we can do, I just hope for the Hypnos sake it starts to obey soon, or I'll have no choice but to bend to the Presidents wishes.  
Daymond swallowed a lump in his throat, the coffee almost seeming to freeze in his gut making his whole body feel cold.  
“Why are you getting so upset over this anyway? You never yell at me…” Malachite questioned now a degree paler as he stuck his hand in his pocket for a moment to fiddle with something.  
Daymond froze, why did he care so much?  
He had been too quick to anger, horrible conclusions and worst of all he had yelled at him! that wasn't like him at all!  
Was it the lack of sleep or something?  
He should know that Malachite wasn’t a bad person, he would never do anything like that in a million years!  
The visions of Malachite kicking Faba and the unsettling glints of pleasure he saw in his friend's eyes whenever anyone talked to him about all the effects the serum had on the creature flashed through his mind that he quickly pushed back.  
So what if Malachite had been doing and saying some questionable things?  
He was too good a person to do that stuff! He was!  
“I don’t know Malachite I guess I'm just in a bad mood, sorry for taking it out of you, I shouldn't have yelled”  
A weak smile spread across the man's face, “It’s ok, I guess you’re gross bean juice just hasn’t woken you up yet!”  
“Hey watch your mouth coffee is delicious!”  
“Ya, if you have no sense of taste!” Malachite shot back, back to his teasing once again.  
“How dare you” Daymond replied blandly, picking his mug back up and drinking the remaining now lukewarm coffee.  
Malachite barked out a laugh that only sounded a little forced and jokingly nudge him.  
“Well I better get going before you bite my head off again, I’ll leave you to your disgusting bean juice for now!”  
The other male gave the ocean eyed man a glare that wasn't entirely playful and poured himself what little was left in the pot of coffee into his Pelipper mug.  
Malachite gave him one last wave and with that, he was gone leaving Daymond alone.  
The man sighed and wandered over to one of the hidden cabinets that were only used on special occasions and pulled out a half-empty liquor bottle.  
Usually, he only drank on special occasions, but right now he just really didn't want to think about things, especially since he was about to go interact with Faba’s Pokémon, even if he wasn’t supposed to drink on the job.  
Unplugging the cork he poured himself a few shots and took a large mouthful, willing himself to forget about everything relating to his old boss and his Pokémon, and his friend's questionable ideals even if it was only for a little while.


	7. To Rip Off The Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Daymond's hands once again become stained and Francesca is an ass in a good way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings! This will probably be the last chapter I post before I go on my trip, so you won't be seeing any new chapters for a week or two at the most.  
> Oh, and just a little warning or whatever some major shit is going down on the pokemon section of fanfiction.net for some reason and its really fucking annoying, so if you were thinking about posting anything pokemon related on there do your self a favor and don't.  
> It's really not worth the trouble, that site is confusing when it comes to posting stories anyways Archive is much better in my opinion.  
> Anyways this chapter is a little more action-packed than the last two and it has more of Lusamine being a creepy bitch!  
> That was sure fun to write.  
> As always I hope you enjoy reading this and apologize for any incorrect sentence structure or grammar mistakes!

Daymond’s heels clicked through the empty halls of the Aether Foundation as he wandered throughout the workplace.  
Hardly anyone was around at this ungodly hour except the poor employees that worked the night shift.  
Once again Daymond couldn’t sleep that night and his mind refused to focus on things like TV, and books, so instead he settled on long walks through the maze of hallways.  
Even if it was a little eerie with no one around, it was also strangely nice and peaceful regardless of the conflicting thoughts that recently visited his mind.  
Luckily tonight, his mind was blank and devoid of any real troubles.  
“Yes, that’s correct he…”  
“Failed, but we're close…”  
“But, wait what if someone…”  
Suddenly, soft whispering each in a different voice reached his ears.  
He took a double take, that was weird, no one should be in this particular area at this time of the night, these were much older parts of the foundation.  
There was nothing down here except vacant spider web filled lab rooms and dusty hallways.  
The lights didn’t even turn on completely, so why would anyone with the exception of himself even want to come down here?  
Curious and maybe a little unnerved he speed up and walked around the corner to see three people all clothed in the uniforms of the higher Aether Foundations employees, all of them annoyingly enough had their helmets on and as they were scientists he knew were people who Daymond knew also had Faba’s blood on their hands.  
“Ahhh! Uhhh Hi, Daymond!” The voice of Reganold yelped from the shortest of the three.  
“What are you doing here so late at night?!”  
“I could ask you all the same thing,” the man replied his brown eyes narrowing.  
What on earth were these three up to?  
“I don’t think that's any of your business Daymond,” the employee on his right said coldly, “We were just chatting about an extremely personal matter that doesn't concern you.”  
Daymond cringed, he recognized that voice all too well. Great, why did it have to be Francesca of all people?! Damn it! Why did he just where helmet tonight? they would’ve mistaken him for another and then he could have walked away from this unwanted conversation. Francesca somehow had only gotten ruder lately! Her aggression and anger toward him only seemed to be growing as time passed, he still didn’t understand why it was him in particular, she hated so much. Why couldn't she just ignore him and give him those scared, angry judgemental looks like the others did!?  
Damn it, he really didn’t want to deal with her sarcasm and little comments on how much of a horrible coward he was again, not when his mind was Faba free at the moment.  
“I was just asking Franchesca, there's no need to be an asshole about it.”  
Francesca gave him what was probably her normal death glare and crossed her arms, “Sure you were Daymond... you were just, ‘asking’ and not just being a nosey brat!”  
“Oh shut up! Don’t you have anything better to say to me then spitting insults an elementary schooler could make up?!”  
Beneath her helmet, the women snorted as Reganold and the other employee exchanged uneasy glances.  
“You want me to shut up?” Franchesca started, “What will you do if I don’t? Sick your twisted boyfriend on me, and tell him to pump me full of that serum crap just like he did to the old Branch Chief?”  
Reginold snorted, "I always figured, you act like a fag Daymond.."  
Daymond flinched, an angry flush spreading across his face, “Malachites not my boyfriend,” he growled. Choosing to ignore the other comment the redhead and Reginold had made.  
The ginger let out a small bubbly laugh, “I never said it was Malachite! Don’t get me wrong Daymond I always suspected you two were together, but you just outright confirmed it! Awww it’s actually kinda cute... You two sick, twisted, cowards deserve each other..”  
“Francesca cut it out!” The voice he was pretty sure belonged to Markus hissed, pulling her away from Daymond and closer to himself, then giving the still blushing man an apologetic bow, “Sorry about her Daymond! She’s just upset you almost overheard her embarrassing secret that she used to think Arcanine was a legendary! Whoops! Haha! Sorry, Franchesca, I revealed it to him!”  
Daymond’s brow furred, “what are you-” he started, but didn’t have the chance to finish as a familiar distant and muffled scream filled the hall.  
“Wait.. was… was that Faba?” Reganold whispered, head twisting in the direction of the sound.  
Before anyone could answer him another scream followed the first, then another and another and another.  
The brown-haired man turned as well, what the hell was happening up there to make Faba scream like that?  
He hadn’t screamed that loud since before the surgery and even then they hadn't sounded like this…  
These were different, they were so raw, it remind him of the screams a mother might make when learning her child was dead, or the grief-filled cries of a trainer when someone informed them their pokemon didn't make it through surgery.  
These screams were definitely the most agonizing he had heard yet from him.  
“I think we need to go check it out... those screams don’t sound right!” Markus exclaimed releasing Franchesca and bolting in the direction of the cries.  
Reganold was next to follow, sprinting to catch up with Marcus's long legs.  
From beneath her helmet, he could feel Franchesca give him one last glare before following her two comrades.  
Daymond stood there alone in the dimly lit hall for a minute or so before he felt his legs begin to move in the direction Francesca and the others went.  
Not exactly because he wanted to go see why Faba was screaming like that, but more because he wanted to find out the real reason why those three were down there.  
The screams ended up taking him to the Presidents room of course where the yells of Lusamine and the others filled the room.  
Their voices high and frantic amongst the cries coming from Faba.  
“HEY NO! DON’T DO THAT!” he could hear Francesca yell, “ACC I SAID NO!! MARKUS! REGINALD! STOP GAWKING AND HELP ME PLEASE!”  
Daymond’s eyes widened at her tone and he finished his way to the President's room in a jog. “Hey! What's going-” he started as he burst into the room only to pause and gape at what was happening in front of him.  
Down on the shiny white floor in the edge of the room thrashed the thing that used to be his boss, his sharp claws scratching at his scales and face and teeth sinking repeatedly in various parts of his body.  
Daymond took a few steps forward, his boots crunching on the shards of broken glass that littered the floor.  
He felt almost like he was in another one of his nightmares as he continued to watch with wide eyes as Franchesca held his head and hindquarters to the ground to try and stop the creatures self-mutilation.  
Markus, Reganold, and Lusamine stood a little ways away.  
With the two employees looking too stunned to move and Lusamine looking more annoyed that this was happening than anything.  
“AHHH GUYS! SNAP OUT OF IT YOU IDOTS! I NEED HELP!”  
Daymond snapped out of his trance and ran over to the women and squatted next to the broken mirror frame as he pushed Faba’s flailing back limbs to the floor, feeling a little guilty at the fact that the two of them were pushing down in places he knew there were dark bruises.  
Thankfully the redhead didn’t yell at him for helping nor insisted he stop, so he continued to squat there for a good five minutes with Reganold and Markus joining not long after he did.  
Even with four people, it wasn't exactly easy to hold him down as Faba fought them and shook his head and screamed the entirety of the five minutes, but as time passed the scaly creature's struggles grew weaker and weaker until he stopped moving entirely apart from the repetitive shake of his head.  
“Th..there see it’s… it’s... Okay... nice… nice and calm… that's good… very good… there's no… need to be so dramatic.”  
Franchesca said through her pants, patting Faba a few times in a bad attempt at comfort.  
“We definitely need to take him to one of the labs to patch him up, some of those wounds are really deep,” Reganold muttered as Daymond frantically wiped his trembling hands on his coat, staining it with Faba’s blood.  
Daymond’s breathing hitched, he hadn't thought to put on his gloves when he left his room...  
He struggled to remain calm, the sudden itch to wash his hands and to take a steaming hot shower came back at full force.  
He had felt this urge fairly often since that dreaded day in Lusamine's office and he thought then the urge had been overpowering, but back then was nothing compared to what he was feeling now.  
He WANTED to get it OFF!  
He NEEDED to get it OFF!  
He felt HORRIBLE, he felt REVOLTING, he felt DIRTY and UNCLEAN.  
Daymond could just barely make out the others voices with in the buzzing inside his head.  
“How did this happen Madam President?” he could hear Franchesca ask, the unhelmeted employee clenched his teeth putting all his willpower on focusing on her voice as he continued to wipe his filthy hands on his lab coat.  
“Hmmm I think it’s just because my beast doesn't appreciate his completion as much as I do yet, I told him to look at his perfect self in the mirror and he started scratching at his beautiful scales! I haven’t the slightest reason why his favorite color was green, he should like them! Doesn't he understand just how beautiful this form his compared to the others? He should have been happy! Overjoyed seeing his reflection. He’s being quite ungrateful after all the thought me and you all put into making sure this form appealed to him, don’t you agree?”  
“Yes, you’re right..” Reganold murmured with clenched teeth, “He is.”  
Lusamine smiled then motioned for them to leave with her hand, “Well the three of you better go and clean him up now, and I want one of you to stay here to dispose of the glass and blood. The color really doesn't suit my complexion, I find it quite ugly”  
Daymond’s skin prickled partly from the President's words, but mostly from the blood that  
wouldn't come OFF his hands.  
He had been rubbing it against his coat for a while, but he didn't need to look down to feel the sticky substance still coating his hands, and feel the itching excel to an extent where it felt like there were thousands of tiny bug types with sharp little feet crawling all over his hands.  
Why wouldn’t it come OFF?  
Why wouldn’t the blood come OFF!?!?!?!  
He finally gave into the itching and dug his nails into his hands then began to relentlessly scratch them.  
Get off me! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF!  
WHY Wouldn’t IT COME OFF?!  
“Of course Madam President we’ll clean him up as soon as possible and have Daym- AAAGGH! DAYMOND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?” Franchesca exclaimed.  
“Stop that seriously! Hey… why aren't you listening to me?! I SAID STOP DAMN IT! DAYMIND!?”  
The tan male flinched as she abruptly grabbed his arm, only now realizing that everyone in the room apart from Faba who was whimpering on the floor was staring at him.  
“I… I need to get it... I...I need to go!”  
“Wha... Daymond what are you-”  
“I just need to get it off! I’ll be back soon I promise! I just need to get it off!”  
Franchesca gazed down at his shaking hands then back at him with a cruel smirk most likely on her face, “Guilty conscious Daymond?” she asked smugly.  
Those words broke what little was left of his composure, recoiling away from them his whole body starting to shake with his hands as he backed away toward the door, his breathing becoming even harder to control.  
He shook his head at the redhead, “N..No, No! I.. I just need to go!”  
“It seems you're having an episode, Mr. Daymond I suppose you can go for now if you're quick and come back-”  
Daymond didn’t stick around to hear the end of her command, as he had already darted past the others, out the door, and down the hallway.  
He stumbled at first, but quickly found his footing.  
This chest tightened and it was beginning to get difficult to breathe as he scrambled inside his quarters and slammed the door behind him.  
He flung himself in the restroom and onto the sink then turned his tap on the highest setting it would go and stuck his hands underneath the flowing water beginning to scratch at them again.  
After a few minutes of this repetitive, nonstop scratching the last of the blood was gone from his hands along with most of his panic, both of them now a lobster red.  
He bowed his head and took a few dozen deep breaths.  
In and out, in and out, he just needed to calm down, he just needed to breathe.  
“I’m fine… it’s off me...” he said out loud as soon as his breathing returned to normal, throwing his bloody lab coat away from him and replacing it with a new one.  
He pulled on his precious gloves that had been sitting on his dresser, and put his helmet on his head and took a single step toward the door and stopped.  
Daymond knew he had to leave and tend to Faba or even the mess of Lusamine’s floor, but he really didn’t want to, especially if it involved getting any more blood on his hands.  
He rubbed his arm supposing it didn’t matter in the slightest what he wanted, he couldn’t just not go, he would be demoted or even fired.  
And he knew if he lost this job he knew he wouldn’t find a another to support him and help pay his aunt's medical bills, especially when he didn’t know if he would have the stomach to accept any help from his friend.  
Daymond let out a grunt, damn it... Why was it always him that got roped up in this shit!?  
He shoved his hands in his pockets and forced himself to walk out the door and down to one of the lab’s they usually performed their checkups on Faba in, trusting that since he fled the room, Lusamine made one of the others clean up the blood.  
Lady luck proved to be on his side for once as only Franchesca and Markus were in the labs, with their helmets off to the side.  
The two stared at him as the ented, not looking all too welcoming.  
“Sure took your sweet time getting over here” Francesca huffed, glaring at him from her place besides Faba.  
“How is he?” Daymond asked, choosing to ignore the hazel-eyed women.  
“How is he?” Markus repeated, “Daymond you were there! How the hell do you think he is?!” Markus growled.  
Daymond cringed, he thought he was on good terms with Markus, it was probably all the time he had been spending so much time with Francesca. “None of the wounds are deep enough to need stitches, so if we just disinfect and bandage up the bites and scratches he should be fine for now, that is. We might as well also give him some more of that throat soother stuff, he could definitely use it after all that yelling.” Franchesca answered him.  
Daymond looked at Faba who lay in a fetal position on the same metal table he was always placed on, “We can’t do that yet, we need Mal...Branch Chief Malachite’s permission first, and besides he wasn’t screaming for that long are you sure he really needs anymore?”  
Franchesca sneered at him, “Yes Daymond I’m sure. You know the only reason why the Branch Chief let us give him any of the soother in the first place was to stop him from completely destroying his vocal cords, even if he wasn’t screaming for that long, he still probably hurt his throat pretty bad, screams like that usually do some kind of damage. You don’t want there to be a flaw in his perfect being, do you Daymond?” She drawled, speaking slowly and softly like she was talking to a stupid child.  
“No! Of course, I don’t.”  
“Then shut the hell up and get your sorry ass over here! We can tell Branch Chief Malachite about this later, I'm sure he won’t be too mad.”  
“Ok, ok... Hold your Rapidash,” he grumbled putting his hands in front of him in a show of surrender and walking over to the redhead, not bothering to take his helmet off his head, like hell he was showing these assholes any of his emotions.  
To his surprise the women didn’t throw any snarky comments or prod him further, she just sighed and continued to dress the injuries on Faba’s back limbs as Markus forced Faba’s jaws open and shoved what was probably the soother down this throat.  
Daymond moved to the front of the table and started on Markus’s unfinished work of bandaging his front legs.  
The three worked in complete silence for a while apart from the occasional whimper from Faba until Francesca spoke up, “So, Daymond... Speaking of the Branch Chief how's your friendship with him been going? I’ve noticed you two haven’t been close since he got promoted.”  
The tan male frowned and didn’t look up from his work.  
Where the hell was she going with this?  
“He’s been busy being Branch Chief that’s all, not that it’s any of your damn business.”  
The girl snorted, “Oh he’s busy, is that the only reason? Or do you have another?”  
Daymond clenched his teeth and didn’t reply.  
“Is it because you actually feel bad for what you did?” Markus asked bluntly.  
“No! No, I don’t!” he blurted out, definitely not wanting these people to know about his guilt, they would exploit it big time.  
“I.. he..he deserved it! After all, he let slide in the foundations… with the President's children and the Type: Nulls and the Ultra Beasts… So stop pretending he’s some poor little victim!! And besides, why should I be guilty? It’s not all my fault, I didn’t know it would be this bad. so It’s not my fault! It-” he trailed off realizing just how shamelessly shity he sounded.  
“Don’t forget this is your fault too! Both of your faults! Quit acting like… like I was the only one involved when you two were just as involved as I was!”  
He sucked in a breath, the volume of his voice rising to a yell, “JUST BECAUSE YOU MIGHT BE GUILTY AND DON’T BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIM LIKE SOME OF US DO, DOESN’T MAKE YOU A BETTER PERSON THAN ME! IT JUST MAKES YOU A GIANT FUCKING HYPOCRITE!”  
Franchesca looked taken back, angry and even a little hurt, but even with that hurt expression on her face Daymond felt no satisfaction in finally landing a blow on her like she always did to him.  
A loud whine rang out before Markus or Franchesca could say anything and the man felt a jab of guilt as he looked down to see Faba who had curled up more than usual and had scooted to the very edge of the table away from Daymond with his claws over his head.  
Franchesca laughed bitterly and pat the creatures mane, “He really was a bastard wasn’t he? I can’t disagree with you there.”  
She laughed again, “Isn't it so weird to think he was just strutting down the hallways and yelling and screaming at us for not using his full title a month ago and now he’s basically on his knees before us.”  
The women let out a mixture of a sob and yet another bitter laugh, putting a gloved hand over her mouth as her eyes glittered with unshed tears.  
Daymond stared at her, the whole world pausing around him.  
He had never seen Francesca tear up like this, hell he had never seen her get mildly upset.  
She had always been one of those headstrong, unshakeable kind of people.  
Even if he hated her it felt wrong to see someone like her in a state like this.  
“I’m done..” he said eventually, putting the bandages up were they belonged, “I think I’ll be going now.”  
“You do that” Markus said emotionlessly giving Franchesca a concerned look and putting a arm around her shoulders as she continued to pet the scaly creature.  
Knowing no real goodbyes were going to be exchanged Daymond left for his room.  
Seeing Franchesca like that made him think about Roy’s little speech that ‘everyone was guilty’.  
Huh, he and Franchesca were a lot more alike than he ever could have imagined.  
The both of them pointing fingers and not taking the real blame, their fears winning out between doing what was right, the fact their heads were often found in the clouds.  
The messy haired man let out a loud laugh beneath his helmet that lasted a little too long for most to be comfortable with.  
This place really had gone to hell if he was comparing himself to Francesca of all people!  
Or maybe Aether Paradise had been hell for a long time and he was just too damn blind to see it.


	8. A Rubber Band Stretched Too Thin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Malachite has issues and Daymond finds out something he shouldn’t have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!! and have a new chapter for you yall to enjoy and he horrified by!  
> kidding! Kidding! It's not that bad, compared to the other scenes you haven't seen yet at least...  
> Updates are going to be a lot more frequent now that I'm back home, so expect another chapter in a day or so.  
> Anyways enough of my chatter, I hope you like what you read and of course apologize in advance for any spelling errors or incorrect punctuation.

Daymond cringed once again as the now familiar sound of Faba’s shrieks mixed with the buzzing of the collar reverberated throughout the hall.  
The horror he had once felt at hearing these noises and seeing Faba twitching on the ground numbing to a dull pang in his chest.  
It sickened him to admit it, but over time he had gotten used to all the new twisted circumstances concerning his old boss.  
Everything had slowly, but surely returned to a new sense of normal for him.  
He stopped averting his eyes near as much and didn’t feel as sick whenever Faba so much as looked at him.  
Even the sulkiest of the others involved seemed to loosen up, they drank less coffee as they were able to reclaim their sleep and begin to laugh and joke around once again.  
Daymond felt horribly envious toward these employees, he may not react as badly when Faba screamed, but he still couldn't get a wink of sleep and the guilt that he naively thought would fade away only got worse to the point where he found himself skipping meals from time to time.  
The buzzing along with the majority of the shrieking then stopped as Malachite lifted his finger from the button, “Okay Daymond, try calling it again and this time please sound less demanding.”  
“Sorry, Mal… I mean Branch Chief I guess I’m just stuck in the training last week when we had to be demanding with him.”  
“Ahh, I see” he nodded, “Just try and snap out of that state of mind, it’s learned to obey me without any yelling, but I really do wish for it to do the same with you and the others as well.”  
“No disrespect Branch Chief, but why?” Daymond asked stiffly, “Wouldn’t it just be more work for you and everyone else for that matter? It really isn’t any trouble to be firm with it like any other Pokémon.”  
“Well it’s just to make it understand that everyone in the foundations is above it and that even if we're not yelling it needs to obey and submit” Malachite passed, “And besides I don’t want anyone straight up yelling at it, this training is necessary Daymond you understand right?”  
“Ya, I understand” Daymond replied with clenched teeth, wishing he could believe Malachite’s intentions were purely to help him and the others, but that all too familiar cruel glint in his eyes told him a different story.  
It was clear to Daymond that Malachite enjoyed hurting Faba, and because Malachite got to punish him less and less due to the obedience of the creature, Daymond had the sinking feeling that this new ‘training’ was just another excuse for Malachite to hurt him more.  
Malachite had never acted this malicious before... It was so strange and unsettling how he would switch over from that happy go, lucky person, he knew since he was eight to a merciless monster that took pleasure on Faba’s pain.  
It was almost like he was possessed or something...  
The only time when he could remember the man being near this violent was years ago when Malachite used to go on his long rants about Charles and break anything that was in close proximity.  
Not that Malachites ex didn’t deserve it, because the sick bastard definitely did.  
Daymond just didn’t understand why was he acting like this?!  
He knew Malachite really hated Faba, but to do all this to him?  
It disturbed Daymond and made it harder and harder for him to greet Malachite with a smile and not a disbelieving stare.  
“Daymond? Come on call him again.”  
“R-Right!” Daymond replied shaking his head free of the thoughts he would rather deny than accept, “umm come.” he said turning his eyes to Faba.  
This time instead of just laying there Faba met his eyes then cocked his head as if to ask; who me?  
“Yes, come here”  
The long tail in between Faba’s legs twitched nervously he stood up and limped over to him, proceeding to lean the side of his head against his knee, looking exhausted from training for so long.  
“Good beast” he praised fighting the urge to move away from the creature as Daymond patted his back only for Faba to flinch away with a yelp of pain.  
Daymond quickly withdrew his hand and glanced down, eyes widening as they scanned his back.  
What?! There were bruises, multiple new big bruises all of which looked to be all the same size and shape.  
When the hell did he get all those?!  
They definitely weren't there yesterday and Faba hadn’t received any punishments lately that would cause bruising this severe, so when?  
Faba’s sudden cries of agony interrupted his thoughts as Malachite shocked him once again.  
“Hey! No! Bad beast! You stay! Don’t move! Stay!!” the blue-green haired man bellowed loudly.  
“Malachite! Why are you?! Um… I mean, I thought you told us no one including you are supposed to yell at him for his training!”  
“Oh… right” Malachite said casually lifting his finger from the button only to push it again, “No, stay bad beast.” he purred in a softer tone.  
Daymond’s eye twitched and his nostrils flared.  
Maybe it was the way Malachite smirked when he said it like he was doing this all as some funny joke or maybe it was just the lack of sleep, but the fragile rubber band that Daymond had been barely holding together finally snapped.  
“Stop it Malachite, just stop it! Haven’t you fucking hurt him enough?! You’re freaking me out and acting like some kind of sick deranged psychopath! Seriously what the hell is wrong with you!?”  
Malachite shrunk at this, “Daymond I-“  
“Shut it! I'm tired of seeing you do this shit! And I’ve had enough of just watching you reenact to your sick torture fantasies!” Daymond snarled lunging forward and raising an arm to try and grab the remote from him.  
Malachite flinched with a small gasp of fear, instinctively putting his arms in front of him in defense.  
Daymond froze his anger draining from him almost instantly, “Fuck… Hey, it's okay Malachite! I wasn't going to… I’m sorry!” the shorter man apologized lowering his hands and backing an appropriate distance away from his friend.  
Malachite didn't untense, the remote falling from his quivering hands as he moved backward, “No… no… I'm supposed to be over this!  
The man paused to run a hand through his wavy hair, “It happened years ago!! So why… why am I panicking!!?? I'm supposed to be better now! I'm supposed to be strong!”  
“Malachite, please! It’s okay! It’s okay, just breath, breath for me in and out okay?”  
Malachite jammed his hands in his pocket and started to fiddle with a small object inside beginning to take several deep breaths in and out.  
I'm fine… I'm in control… ” the pale man grumbled tightening his grip on the thing in his pocket, “Don’t look at me like that Daymond! I'm not weak anymore!! All that's in the past!!"  
“I never said you were,” Daymond said softly carefully reapproaching Malachite, “In fact, you're definitely the strongest person I've ever known.”  
“I am?” the ocean eyed man whispered looking more like the shy, insecure boy he first met years ago than the uncontrollable husk of a man filled with anger and rage that he had just seen.  
“Of course you are! No one in the whole Foundation or hell anyone in Alola could go through what you did and still be mentally sound!”  
“Mentally sound?” Malachite chuckled bitterly, “Daymond I almost had a panic attack just now! And you were there when I finally got away from him, I was a wreck for months and clung to you like a Komola to its log..”  
“So what if you were a wreck? Anyone would be, but you pulled through it! Some people never recover from things like that, but you did! I don’t even think I would have had the courage to even try going against him… And you even repaired yourself from everything and survived! You showed you’re a hundred times stronger than Charles will ever be!” he told him firmly, grabbing Malachite gently by his shoulders when he got close enough and pulled him into a tight embrace.  
“I repaired myself..? Don’t give me so much credit! It was you and Saphira that did all that!”  
Daymond didn’t reply savoring the hug as Malachites arms began to wrap around him when suddenly the other man jerked away from him seizing the remote from the ground, pushing the button and turning back to the door that familiar rage coming back within the blink of an eye and with that, his Malachite was gone again.  
“No! No! No! Bad beast! Bad!! How dare you! How dare you disobey me and move when I'm trying to have a sentimental moment with my friend!! The man screamed at Faba who now lie twitching by the metal door to the hallway like the creature has been attempting to get out while their backs were turned.  
“You ruined it! You ruined it you bastard! Because of you, I flinch whenever someone raises their voice or moves their hands too damn fast!! Because of you, I acted weak for so long!! I was supposed to be happy at the Foundation! I was supposed to be strong, but you were there!! With your smug fucking face!! You ruined everything!!”  
Daymond wanted to intervene, he really did, but the taller man didn’t trust himself not to snap at Malachite again.  
He let out a long sigh, knowing standing here and watching Malachite hurt Faba wasn’t going to accomplish anything, he was so done with all this shit today.  
Giving Faba one more guilty look and his friend a disappointed one, he mouthed an apology that was directed at both creatures that used to be human then slipped out of the door without any notice from Malachite who was to caught up in this rage to see anything, but red.  
He headed down the hallway suddenly realizing that of the two pairs of screams that traveled down the hall, Faba’s sounded more human.

~

Daymond awoke with a start, clamping a clammy hand over his mouth to stop his scream from tumbling out.  
His room?! He was in his room, it had just been a dream, a very horrible realistic dream.  
He threw off his sweet soaked covers being careful not to disrupt his Pelipper who was snoozing on the top of his bed frame. He had woken up the poor flying type more than enough with his screaming lately after all, and made his way over to the small restroom where he turned on the sink and splashed cold water on his face.  
“Just a dream. It was just a dream.” he told himself as he nibbled at his already bitten down nails, “Malachite would never do that! He wouldn't.”  
Daymond wished he could say that without stammering, but the truth was he wasn’t sure what his friend was capable of anymore, especially after today.  
He moved a hand to the side of his neck that was still painfully throbbing as if Malachite had really stabbed him there and sighed softly.  
“Well this is just great” he mumbled, knowing for a fact that he was never going to get back to sleep and that he had nothing to occupy him before his shift started.  
“Oh fuck it I’ll just take another walk” he decided to pull on his uniform this time not forgetting to also put on his gloves and helmet.  
Hopefully, it would help clear his head and stop him from thinking about Malachite, “Bye Nigel I hope you sleep better then I do” he whispered to the water type giving the Pokémon a pat on its bill before heading out the door, starting to walk the route the normally took ob nights like this.  
As usual slim to no one was around and all was quiet which Daymond found just fine.  
This silence, however, was broken when he reached the older parts of the foundation with all the unused labs or usually unused labs as tonight the lights to one of the labs was on.  
The rusty metal door was open a crake allowing the faint murmur of voices to drift out.  
“I..kno-! Tricky- give.. him… when”  
Daymond halted, even if he could barely hear the words he could tell that voice belonged to Franchesca.  
She was down here again?!  
The first time he had caught her and the others here he begrudgingly wrote it off as the group doing inappropriate things in one of the labs together and soon after forgot all about the incident, but now that she was down here for a second time he was pretty sure they weren't doing anything freaky, he was back to being suspicious.  
Not wanting to alert the women or anyone else who happened to be in the lab that he was out, but also wanting to find out what she was up to Daymond quietly tiptoed over to the door and cupped a hand to the side of his helmet.  
Aredy feeling excited about ratting her and the possible others out as soon as morning broke, even if he and Franchesca hadn’t been insulting each other much these days the thought of workplace without her sounded wonderful.  
“Ya his name is Keven, you know the intern with the black hair and glasses I really think we can convince him to help us!” Franchesca said.  
“You really think so? That would be marvelous, we would never have to worry about Malachite or one of the others finding us down here!” The soft yet hopeful voice of Samantha replied.  
So she was in on whatever this was too? That was a little strange Francesca and Samantha rarely talked outside work.  
“Ehhh it would be more like having a head start to hide everything and turn off the lights before they know we were here.”  
“Oh, Keven? I hear he’s a genius with those computers! It might take a while, but maybe he’ll even be able to dig up the security footage that got deleted!” Markus’s voice butted in.  
Daymond leaned closer to the opening. Security footage? What the hell did they need security footage for?  
“Don’t get your hopes up Markus, the surveillance team’s job is super boring. You know they over exaggerate everything.” Franchesca huffed.  
“I'm not… I'm just trying to be optimistic for once”  
“Umm Franchesca? We’re kinda going off topic, so could you please continue about where to administer the painkillers for Mr. Faba?” Samantha asked.  
Daymond’s jaw dropped, pain killers?  
They were giving Faba pain killers?  
It made sense after thinking about it for a moment. Faba had only stopped most his screaming about a week or two after Malachite refused to let them give him any pain killers,  
Two weeks ago was also the start of the ‘antibiotic’ medicine vaccinations.  
A handful of the employees including Franchesca, Markus, and Reginald were so persistent in giving it to him.  
So Malachite was wrong when he said the surgeries had fixed all his pain, and he was wrong himself for thinking poor Faba was just growing accustomed to it.  
Daymond backed away from the door all the thought of ratting them out flying out the window.  
He shouldn't be here, he really shouldn't be here.  
This group, they were doing what he was too afraid to, their fear hadn’t won unlike him, so he guessed that meant what he had yelled at Francesca was false. She was a better person than him.  
Once he had gotten a safe distance away he turned and headed back in the direction of his room, it was easy for him to sit and do nothing when no one else was taking any action either, but now that he knew a group was doing something to help Faba, he felt conflicted.  
He wanted to help his old boss, he really did, but he was just so scared.  
“It’s not like they would let me in any way” he tried to convince himself the guilt in his gut becoming stronger, “They would all just be suspicious of me, not that I would blame them.”  
This conclusion didn’t even make a tenth of the guilt go away.  
Ok well even if he wasn’t going to risk helping the group directly he could at least steer Malachite and the others away from them if suspicious was to arise and be sure to keep them far away from the labs until they got that Keven guy on their side.  
He sighed and rubbed his helmet, He really hoped Malachite or Lusmine never got suspicious, because if the group ended up getting caught very bad things would happen to them and even worse things could happen to Faba.  
They would all be fired for sure, and their memories would probably even be wiped or worse and he knew once they were gone he wasn’t going to be strong enough to continue what they started.


	9. Behind The Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Faba wants in and Daymond goes on another walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, that didn't take to long now, did it?  
> I don't really have anything to say before this chapter except that I hope you enjoy and I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes or incorrect sentence structure.  
> I'll also try to post the next chapter as soon as I can so be ready for that!

Daymond opened his mouth to a long drawn out yawn as he stretched his arms over his head.  
Beside him, Roy shook him roughly, “Daymond! Hello?! were you listening to anything I just said?!”  
“Huh? Oh sorry Roy, I think I zoned out for a minute.”  
Roy grunted in annoyance, slapping a hand to his helmet and dragging his hand down it, “I said that the Presidents beast should be somewhere around his old office or quarters, it’s where Assistant Branch Chief Archer found him the last few times, so I'm guessing he’s by one of the two again..”  
“Wait… he wandered off again?! That's the fifth time this week!”  
“Did I stutter?!” Roy sniped  
The taller man bit his tongue knowing better than to make any excuses to the man, since Roy sounded very pissed today.  
“I'm sorry… it's just, why do you think he's only just started doing this now? He’s never tried to leave the President's side before. Hell, I didn’t even think he liked to leave her at all.”  
“I don’t know and I really don’t care.” Roy hissed, “What we need to worry about is finding him and not his… mental state.”  
“Right,” Daymond replied simply. With a small nod, and the two continued their walk in silence until they entered the hallway where the office that now belonged to Malachite resided.  
“Ahhh, just as I thought there he is” Roy sighed in relief, walking over to the creature and who was currently standing on his back legs while clawing at the door and dragged him away from the office.  
Malachites going to be pissed, Daymond thought as he eyed the new scratch marks with a cringe, he just got that door fixed from the other scratches yesterday.  
“Come on.” Roy said firmly as he dragged Faba further away from the door before releasing him, “Let’s get you back to the President before she gets angrier than she already is.”  
Faba blinked at them then turned back to the office door with a low whine and began to walk back over to the door.  
“Hey! No! No office!” Roy scolded dragging him back again, “You wanna go back to Lusamine don’t you? Lusamine?” the man asked dropping Faba only for him to turn to the door.  
Daymond stared puzzledly at Faba. Had he not heard Roy?  
He always went with them when they mentioned his name, even on Faba’s most ‘rebellious’ days when he would growl and try to kick them.  
“Lusamine?” this time Daymond said, grabbing Faba himself and forcing the scale covered creature to look at him, “Do you understand? Come with us and we’ll take you to Lusamine.”  
In his grasp, Faba whimpered and shook his head.  
“Ughh… so he’s still not responding to her name.” Roy grumbled, “Damn! I thought Branch Chief Malachite said he was going to train him out of that!”  
“What!? He hasn’t been responding?! Then how are we supposed to get him back to the President without dragging him the whole way there?”  
“No, he hasn’t been Daymond!” Roy growled through his gritted teeth, “Maybe if you were paying attention to what other people were saying and not paddling around and chugging down black coffee and alcohol all day you would know that!”  
Under his helmet Daymond’s cheeks turned red, “I do not-”  
“And on getting him back, I’m sure if we just kick him he’ll come with us, that's what Assistant Branch Chief Archer’s been doing.”  
“Kick him?! I don’t wanna kick him!”  
“I don’t ether Daymond, but it’s better than dragging him halfway across the Foundation, Didn’t you just say you don't want to do that?”  
“Fine! But just a light kick, don’t give him any more bruises than he already has, ok?”  
Roy didn’t respond for a moment, but the tension in the air seemed to thicken, “You’re saying that like you just expect me to be the one to hurt him… Just this once Daymond, just this once can you please not let your emotions control you!? Can’t you be the one kick him! I've told you before that thing is just a stupid beast! A stupid beast that nearly poisoned your friend with its stingers! Besides we have to do this… We don’t have any other choice.”  
The man passed and Daymond could hear him swallow thickly, “Please Daymond… I've already had to shock him today with my training session with the Branch Chief, I don’t want to hurt him again today.”  
“Okay, okay I’ll do it,” he said softly realizing just how selfish he was acting.  
“Thank you” Roy uttered any emotion that had been in his voice vanishing.  
Daymond didn’t bother replying to that as he turned his attention back to Faba the itching sensation already spreading across his hands.  
“No!” he yelled, “Bad beast! You obey us! Follow! Now!”  
Faba whimpered again and shrunk away as much as he could in Daymond’s hold as the man swung his foot back a second away from kicking him when he felt a feminine hand tightly grab his shoulder.  
“I know it's you Daymond, so you better listen to me when I say to put him down now! And don’t you dare think about kicking him!”  
He heard Franchesca’s voice hiss with barely restrained rage as she dug her nails into his skin.  
“Ow! Cool it Franchesca!” he snapped moving away from her, “We have to do this to make him obey! We don’t want to keep the President waiting”  
The young man could feel the women's glare through her helmet. “You don’t have to beat the shit out of him to make him come with you, just go and I’ll handle this without hurting him.”  
“Be my guest, but I highly doubt he’s going to listen to you” he told her letting Faba go.  
Faba cringed away from the woman as she slowly moved her hands toward him, “Hey, hey none of that now, do you.. remember my voice? It's just me remember? I'm not going to hurt you”  
The creature's ears perked up and he took a small step toward Franchesca.  
“Good, good we’ve done this before, remember?” she said to him softly as she carefully picked him up.  
“Oh… Umm, he’s not heavy?” Roy asked.  
Francesca shrugged, “Not really after all Fab- I mean the old Branch Chief was pretty scrawny and after the President did this to him I think he lost some weight. Probably because he barely eats anything anymore.”  
Daymond cleared his throat, not wanting the women to continue this conversation, “Me and Roy should get going Franchesca, I think it’s safe to say this situation is under control and you are more than capable of delivering the Presidents beast to her without our assistance, or in fact now that I’m thinking about it he hasn’t had one of those anti-biotic shots you keep giving him, perhaps should you do that before you deliver him instead?”  
“Oh, you’re right!... We haven't given one to him in a while! I’ll definitely go do that!” Franchesca exclaimed before Roy could protest.  
“Well umm bye, you two gotta go! Tell the President there will be a slight delay with her getting her beast please!” The women said so quickly that Daymond could barely understand her before she took off in the opposite direction.  
“I'm surprised you didn't throw me under the bus again,” Roy said, gratefully after a brief moment of silence.  
“You could have just made an excused for yourself and took off, but… you didn’t.”  
Even if Roy couldn’t see it, Daymond gave the man a bittersweet smile, “You’re welcome” he murmured feeling extremely undeserving of said thanks. After all, he had done none of that for Roy. It was for the creature Roy claimed was a mindless beast.

~

Two more weeks had gone by in the Foundations and nothing of note had happened except for Faba continuing to wander off any moment he wasn't closely watched and no matter how badly the others punished him he only seemed to wander off more and more.  
Luckily for all of them, he only ever went to his old office and quarters, never once trying to make an escape which made Daymond feel mildly frustrated.  
However, these two weeks of blissful boring were eventually cut off on a rainy Sunday night.  
Daymond, as usual, was taking a long stroll through the Foundations careful not to get too lost in his thoughts to avoid his legs going into autopilot and taking him to the old labs were Francesca and the others were probably working.  
Fewer people than usual were walking around the halls tonight as it was a Sunday after all.  
His walk was going normal as usual when he spotted a dark figure hunched and leaning against Malachites office door, their hand fiddling with the handle.  
“Hey! Why are you trying to get in Branch Chief Malachites office!? It’s three in the morning, he went to bed hours ago!” he called out, walking over to the person.  
“If you wish to speak with him you’ll have to wait until morning breaks, or if you want to you can pass the message off to me and-”  
He passed, gasping now as the ‘person’ dropped on all fours and now that Daymond was closer he could see a long tail trailing behind them.  
“Faba?”  
At his name the creatures head instantly swung toward him, his blue eyes seeming to glow in the darkness.  
Daymond gulped before he slowly approached him, “Hey, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be with the President in her room. How did you get out?”  
Faba offered him no response but continued to stare at him.  
“Oh, you… look I know you want to go in there, but you can’t. It’s not your office anymore, so come on let's get you back to the President. Hopefully, I can sneak you in before she realizes you're gone.”  
Faba didn’t even twitch at his words.  
“Come on…” he said patting his leg and moving in the direction of the women's room, “You don’t want Lusamine to punish you again do you?”  
The horned creature flinched at her name, then turned to the door and started to pull himself up on his hind legs, one of his claws desperately pawing at the handle.  
Daymond let out a breath, should he let Faba in?  
Malachites office was locked of course, but he knew the combination to get in, and maybe if Faba was finally let in, he would see that the office didn’t belong to him anymore and he would stop wandering off from Lusamine! And she and the others wouldn’t have to hurt him for it anymore!  
He glanced left then right to confirm that no one was coming down ether hallway, and after gently pushing Faba off the door he punched in the numbers hoping that Faba wouldn’t have another freak out looking around like when he looked at himself in the mirror.  
When he fished the door beeped signifying it was unlocked, “Okay, fine go on ahead and go in” he said as he opened the door, “But just a quick look alright? Then it's back to Lusamine”  
Faba’s ears twitched and with another small whimper slowly went inside.  
Daymond followed, quickly closing the door behind them and flipping the lights on.  
He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes before directing his attention back to Faba who was swinging his head around and sniffing at the air.  
The shaggy-haired man took a look around as well, it really did look different in here.  
Malachite had changed everything in the room shy of ripping up the carpet.  
All the oak, green and silver furniture along with the beautiful painting of different landscapes and strange little abstract sculptures were all gone replaced with the dark wood and deep royal blues of Malachites belongings with a large picture of the ocean hanging on the wall above his felt blue chair.  
Most of the furniture was even in different positions.  
As he scanned the room his brown eyes fell upon something he wished they hadn't.  
He had only been in Malachites office twice, and in those times he had been in deep conversation with the man so it was fair he hadn’t seen them even if they were out in the open.  
Daymond gasped in horror, Faba’s visors.  
The symbol for what he stood for, who he was were tucked carefully by Malachite’s computer.  
He remembered leaving them in the President's office after Faba had changed. Malachite must have gone out of his way to claim them and put them on his desk where he probably leaned back in his chair and admired them like they were some kind of sick demented hunting trophy, and in a way that’s exactly what they were.  
“H… hey are you done looking now?” he asked turning away from the visors, suddenly getting the urge to wash his hands and take what would be his third shower of the day.  
He had seen Malachite do and say some horrible things recently, but this was a whole new level of wrong, it was literally the textbook behavior of a psychopath.  
Faba grunted not sounding or looking to keen on leaving yet, looking confused and oddly frustrated as he wandered around the room with the occasional sniff.  
The longer he looked around the more desperate his search became; sticking his head under the desk, clumsy opening a few of the filing cabinets and even pulling himself back to his back legs to look on top of Malachites desk before Daymond pushed him off, not wanting the creature to scratch up the desk or see his visors he was once so proud of, causing Faba to flop into an uncomfortable looking sitting position where he was half seated on his tail.  
The creature's eyes scanned the room one more time, ears flattening to his head.  
He lifted up his front legs to possibly cradle his head in his claws or perhaps dig his claws in the top of his head only for Faba to immediately fall over on his stomach, as a four-legged creature wasn’t built to squat in such a human-like position.  
The creature let out a heartbreaking cry that sound almost like a sob as he buried his face as best he could in the carpet.  
Daymond’s heart clenched, poor thing. He had gotten so many punishments for trying to get in here and finally to get in only for everything that would have been even remotely familiar to get replaced with Malachites unfamiliar furniture.  
“I… look! Ummm your stuff might be gone, but there's still that ink stain!” he said pointing to the back spot on the carpet.  
“Remember? last year when Franchesca’s pen exploded all over you? We could hear you yelling at her from the rehabilitation area. She… she said it was an accident, but I'm pretty sure it was on purpose. She was really mad at you earlier that day for not giving her the weekend off for her little sister's birthday or something like that.”  
Faba lifted his head to stare at the stain.  
The creature cocked his head, looking confused at first before his eyes widened like he just realized something important.  
He whimpered again then scooted the short distance to the stain.  
“Do… do you recognize it?” he asked softly.  
Faba began to breathe heavily then to Daymond’s confusion began to cry and claw at the stain.  
“Don’t cry! It’s… It’s okay!” he uttered, kneeling down next to the creature and putting what he hoped to be a comforting hand on the lower part of his neck.  
He had done it without thinking, he had never seen Faba cry before as a human or as a scaly beast, he screamed and whined a lot, but never cried. Daymond didn't even know that he was capable of it anymore. Faba’s cries soon became desperate sobs as he clawed the ink stain more aggressively.  
Daymond had never liked seeing people cry, maybe he should have been used it given all the times Malachite had cried on his shoulder, but he just wasn’t, it still made him feel small and helpless, even more so now as this was Faba or what was left of him he was comforting.  
“It’s okay, It’s okay,” he said quietly as Faba’s sobs got worse, then before the man could react his old boss turned to him and buried his face in Daymond’s chest.  
Daymond stiffened. Was Faba really so desperate for comfort he was clinging to one of his many abusers?  
The Aether scientist ignored the urge to push him away as the creatures sharp claws dug through his lab coat and into his skin. Daymond wrapped one of his arms around Faba.  
“Calm down, calm down. It’s okay, you’re okay” he repeated, despite knowing it wasn’t okay, that nothing would ever be okay for Faba or for him ever again.  
He pulled the creature closer tears pricking at the corners of his own eyes, “It’s okay, it’s okay… it’s, it’s okay.” he whispered, this time the words more for his own sake than Faba’s as the two clung to each other with Daymond repeating the same lie over and over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know what you two little broken teacups need to hug it out!  
> Hug It out!  
> Hug train coming to the station!  
> Huggaploza! 2000!


	10. The Walls Shatter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Daymond has a horrible revaluation and Rose actually has some solid points.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos!  
> I have another chapter for all you wonderful people reading this!  
> Sorry it took so long I was focusing on just writing in my journal and I was just being really lazy and didn't feel like it.  
> I'm going to try and get the next one up sooner though because it was one of my favorite chapters to write.  
> Yet again nothing too eventful happens in this chapter, but very soon in the next chapter or so more shit is finally going to go down, so mentally prepare your self for that.  
> Even although the action is limited in this chapter I hope you enjoy reading it and I apologize for any spelling mistakes or improper grammar.

Lusamine shoved the shiny white and gold remote back into her pocket with a smile directed at him and Reganold.  
“Thank you for bringing my beast back to me Mr. Reganold, Mr. Daymond. Did you find him by his old quarters yet again?”  
“No I'm afraid we didn’t Madam President, he… was by the boating area this time Ma’am.” Daymond answered carefully.  
Lusamine was silent for a moment and tightened her grip on the remote, “The docking area you say… are you completely sure about that?” she asked as her smile started to fade away.  
Daymond and Reganold exchanged uneasy glances “Yes Ma’am,” Reganold said without meeting her cold eyes.  
Lusamine's nose wrinkled and her lips curled back like a rabid growlithe, and she snapped her head down to Faba who was still whimpering loudly from the punishment he had just received.  
‘You… you were trying to leave me the same way my children did weren’t you!?” she snarled, “You’re trying to leave after all the love I have given to you!? After I twisted you into complete perfection!? You want to leave me!? Abandon me?! How dare you be so ungrateful and selfish!”  
The woman growled, pulling the remote out of her pocket and pushed down with such force that Daymond was surprised her thumb didn’t go through it.  
“I love you so much my beast! So why!? Why would you ever want to leave me!?”  
Daymond didn’t know how much longer he could watch, he hadn’t seen the President this mad since Faba had refused to attack an employee's Lycanroc when she told him to, she had shocked him for so long...  
Maybe it was because of the little moment he and Faba had a few days ago, but this time Daymond wasn’t just going to sit back and do nothing, especially when the women had such an enraged look on her face that he was afraid would kill.  
“Madam President please stop!” Reganold said before Daymond could work up what little courage he had, “I’m sure your beast wasn’t trying to leave you… he… didn’t he used to like being on boats?”  
Lusamine stopped yelling, but she didn’t lift her finger from the button, “You think he was there because he merely remembers he likes the rocking sensations and not because I failed to love him enough?”  
Faba likes rocking sensations?  
So that's why he always heard about the guy nodding off on both helicopter and boat rides.  
“Errrr yes!” he butted in stepping in between her and Faba, “As you said Madam President you treat him so well! Why would he want to leave you!? He did disobey you Madam and that is… deserving of a little punishment, but I don’t think he tried to leave you, It’s obvious to me that he loves you almost as much as you love him!”  
At his words, the woman's snarl fell and to Daymond relief finally stopped shocking Faba.  
“My apologies for jumping to conclusions my beautiful beast” she murmured, crouching on the floor to pet Fabas twitching form, “But you understand of course, after what happened with my children and besides, it really is your fault anyway for leaving my side in the first place. You have no one to blame for this pain, but yourself.”  
Maybe he wouldn’t leave you all the damn time if your crazy ass didn't constantly hurt him! Daymond thought, his face twisting in anger under his helmet, oh what would he give right now for this bitch to drop dead at this very moment.  
“Madam President!”  
All three of their heads turned to see Malachite walking down the hall toward them.  
Daymond’s hands curled into fists, he and his friend hadn’t talked at all since the Branch Chiefs little tantrum, Malachite had tried several times to talk to him, but Daymond wasn’t having it.  
If it were a true apology Malachite was making he would have considered accepting it, but the blue-green haired man was just making excuses about how he just ‘lost’ his temper or how he was ‘just punishing it’ or how ‘it deserved it’.  
He didn’t even seem sorry at all for upsetting him!  
He thought at least Malachite would be sorry for his sake!  
His friend even had the audacity to accuse him of being overdramatic about the situation!  
“Branch chief Malachite? What is it? Have you finally got the paperwork in order to demote Miss Francesca for abusing my poor beast?” Lusamine asked getting to her feet.  
Daymond took a double-take, what?! He knew Franchesca was in the process of being demoted to a lowly grunt, but he had no idea why and thought she might have sassed Malachite a little too much or snapped at the President, but for abusing Faba?  
No, Daymond would have more likely believed that Franchesca had been snorting Cocaine in the back rooms, but… hurting Faba?!  
He had always seen an abundance of bruises on him, and he had always suspected someone was going way overboard, but Francesca?!  
“I did, but this isn’t what I've come to speak to you about Ma’am, it’s about Ms. Wicke.”  
Faba made a small whine of both recognition and confusion, and even although he was still in pain from the election looked up at Malachite with wide eyes, an expression he mostly had on when even someone spoke his true name.  
“Ms. Wicke?” Lusamine asked earning another whimper from Faba as Daymond hesitantly kneeled down and pat Faba’s mane trying to get the creature to quiet down, “What about her Branch Chief?”  
“She just called us Ma’am asking about the old Branch Chief. Apparently, she’s been attempting to contact him for weeks now and got so-” a sneer appeared on Malachite's face, “Worried that she called the head of the department.”  
“I guess that explains all those ‘unknown’ calls you keep getting Branch Chief,” Regganold said moving a hand to the chin part of his helmet.  
Daymond’s stomach flipped, so Faba and Wicke really were friends then and not just work acquaintances.  
The two always had such a strange dynamic that sometimes it was hard to tell, he would yell at her and snap at her to call him Branch Chief, but at the same time would also offer to do some of her work and some of the things he has seen them do.. work acquaintances wouldn't, even if Wicke was a sweetheart, she wouldn’t do something like call Faba for weeks on end and scold him constantly for not eating and sleeping right if they were just acquaintances.  
“And what did you well her Branch Chief?”  
“I told her that he quit and that I had no idea why the old Branch Chief wasn't returning her calls, she seemed confused and asked me when he did so. I told her It was around two months ago and she thanked me for telling her and hung up.”  
“Hmm, I was afraid of something like this happening, but I didn’t think she would call so soon.”  
Daymond anxiously patted Fabas head “What if she calls the police!?” he asked, hoping she would do just that.  
Regganoled seemed to perk at the question.  
“I doubt it’ll come to that, Ms. Wicke will most likely think that he just left without telling her. It’s not entirely out of character for him after all, and even If she does happen to call them we can just feed them the story of him quitting and they’ll be off our backs, I just have to fake some more of the paperwork and we should be golden.”  
Daymond starred at Malachite, surprised at the fact they didn’t already have all the paperwork, but then again even he had believed that no one would bother looking for Faba up till now of course.  
“That sounds good Branch Chief, make sure you have them made some time tomorrow and I'll be sure to sign off on them for now, I would like you to take my beast and give him an extended training session, he disobeyed me again and wandered off near the boats today…”  
“The boats” the pale man echoed with a glare directed at Faba.  
Lusamine nodded, “That's correct, really Branch Chief Malachite it’s been weeks I expected you to train him out of this phase by now.”  
Usually, Daymond would try and defend Malachite by pointing out that Faba had been wandering off less and less, but this time he kept his mouth shut and continued to pet Faba’s head.  
“Sorry, Ma’am! If it’s okay with you I think I’ll start making the training sessions longer and more frequent. Even if it means you’ll see it less and probably miss it a lot, but I know it’ll be worth it in the end when he listens to your orders unconditionally!” Lusamine put a hand on her chin, “Fine… permission granted. Now you must be off, my beast needs all the training he can get.”  
“Bye Faba” Daymond whispered quietly to the creature and stood up as Malachite thanked the women and called Faba to his side.  
The creature lingered by his leg for a moment and gave Daymond a pleading look that made the tan-skinned man squirm before he staggered over to Malachite with a heavy limp that Daymond was just now noticing.  
His lips twisted into a worried frown.  
That was odd… Faba wasn’t limping yesterday.  
Could Franchesca have done it? No… that couldn’t be.  
Perhaps someone was framing her?  
After everything he’s seen from Franchesca, especially the day she started to cry from guilt for being involved the project that made Faba what he was now.  
It could never be her… the thought of someone trying to get away with beating a creature like Faba the way he is and pinning the blame on someone else made Daymond feel sick to his stomach.  
Malachite gave them all individual goodbyes, his eyes lingering on Daymond who refused to meet with them before the man left with Faba.  
“Well, you two better be off now!” Lusamine told them with a smile, “Assistant Branch Chief Archer is expecting you down in the labs.”  
“Yes Ma’am” Daymond and Reganold muttered with a bow and began walking down the hall, his mind quickly wandering into his thoughts about Wicke or more specifically the friendship she had with Faba.  
His list Daymond numbly realized, the stupid pointless list he had made at the beginning of all this, every single bullet point over the course of time had all been deemed untrue.  
Faba was never going to like his new form, he was still in pain even with the painkillers, Malachite and Lusamine were basically torturing him every day and he had a loved one who was looking for him worried sick even if that loved one was only a friend.  
With that all the walls Daymond had made from completely swallowing him shattered, leaving him with only sorry excuses built up from their place.  
Sorry excuses just like the ones Malachite kept giving him.  
Arceus he was such a hypocrite.  
He clenched his teeth and glanced at Reganold when the hell were they going to do something other than pump him full of pain killers?!  
They should be doing something to get him the hell out of here by now!  
He knew doing so would be extremely difficult, but they had months to plan! Why weren’t they doing more for him!?  
What the hell were they waiting for?  
Unless they were never planning to help him escape, to begin with.  
That thought nearly caused him to freeze right there and then, it had never crossed his mind before, but what if the group never had any intention to help Faba get away from this hell hole and the group merely formed to give Faba pain killers and that was it?  
They may be willing to risk being caught just giving him medicine they weren't supposed to but were they willing to risk what would happen to them if they tried to help Faba escape?  
Daymond wanted to scream, he may have been granted a new ray of hope for his old boss, but it had come at the cost of losing his faith in Franchesca and her group.  
It looked like he had to put all his faith in Wicke now, he had to.  
She was the only thing he had besides the excuse that was keeping him sane from the guilt.  
He couldn’t hold back a miserable sounding growl, when his shift was over he was definitely getting another drink or five.

~

Daymond flopped down at the table with an exasperated sigh, instantly starting to pick at his food with his head resting on his other hand.  
“Daymond I didn’t think it was possible, but you look even worse than you did yesterday.”  
“I know how I look, Rose! I don’t need you telling me.” He grumbled as a dark-haired woman sat beside him.  
“I just didn’t get any sleep again.”  
Rose leaned closer to sniff him a few times, “You’ve been drinking again, haven’t you?”  
“Ya… I have… Ummm… It’s just… Rose… I did something really, really… uh… never mind.”  
The pale woman frowned at him, “Whatever you did you can tell me Daymond, you know I don’t judge.”  
She said that, but if Daymond told her she would be beyond horrified after all Rose was lucky enough not to be involved with the Ultra Beast Project, none of the grunts were or at least new the full truth about it.  
If he told her she would never talk to him again and Daymond wouldn’t blame her.  
He thought for a moment on how to reword his problems, wanting badly to talk to someone about his troubles that were eating him more than usual.  
“I’ve been doing some really bad things recently Rose… things that are still kind of going on, I want to do something to stop it, but I'm scared of what will happen if I do. I know it’s cowardly, but I just don’t know what to do anymore.”  
“Please tell me it’s nothing illegal.” she hissed.  
“No no it’s not, just family stuff.” he lied swiftly.  
“Well, in that case, I would say that you shouldn't let your fear be a ball and chain from doing the right thing, I would break that chain if I were you before it becomes too late to do anything.”  
Diamonds grip tightened on the silverware.  
“Look Daymond whatever you did. It’s obviously taking a toll on you both mentally and physically, and I'm afraid that you're just going to get worse if you just sit and do nothing other than doing the right thing and getting caught for it.”  
The skinny man couldn't think of a reply to that, he had expected Rose to go off about the rules and always doing the right thing no matter what, he hadn’t thought she would actually make a good point.  
“Uh, so I’ve been meaning to ask you-” the woman said as he began to get uncomfortable, “Do you know why Faba quit?”  
Daymond nearly snapped the fork in half, “No I don’t”  
“It was weird don’t you think? He didn’t even tell anyone he was leaving apparently, he just up and quit one day then boom, Malachites Branch Chief! People keep saying it was because the President was acting all weird around him or something.. What do you think?"  
“I don’t know” he muttered every molecule in his body tensing.  
“Well, I certainly think it’s just weird! This was his life's work and he was obviously really proud of it! I really don’t think he would throw all of that away just because the President was being creepy again!”  
“I think he was already thinking about quitting for a while Rose..” he told her in a harsher tone then he meant, “After everything that happened with Type: Null, the Ultra Beasts and everything with Ms. Wicke and all.”  
“Right.” The girl replied with a hurt expression, “It’s just… I guess I’m looking into it too much, I just kind of miss the guy is all.”  
“Miss him?!” The brown-eyed male spluttered.  
“Well… not really miss, It’s just strange not having him be around and besides Faba’s not that bad, he was just kind of an ass sometimes.”  
“Sometimes?!”  
“Really he wasn't that bad! If you just call him by his title, talk bad about the employees he doesn’t like and agree that psychic types are by far the best Pokemon which they are, and he won’t yell at you near as much! He’s actually pretty nice to talk to. The bragging is a little annoying though.”  
“Really? That’s all you have to do for him to be nice?” Daymond asked more soulfully than skeptical.  
“Nicer and yup! Why do you think I always get holidays off?”  
“You… you suck up.” Daymond whispered.  
Rose rolled her eyes at him as the employees at other tables got up and started to throw what was left of their food away and left the cafeteria to go back to their designated area.  
For once Daymond was glad the lunch break was over he really didn’t want to talk about Faba in any kind of good light. It made him feel sicker than he already was.  
“Well, we better be off to work too,” Rose said looking down at the scientist's food with a frown.  
“Right work.” Daymond sighed picking up his helmet and throwing all his food away, “Bye Rose. See you tomorrow I guess.”  
“Bye just think about what I said okay? And please try and get some sleep tonight or you’re going to end up collapsing!”  
“I’ll try” he shrugged, already dreading the nightmares he would have If he did manage to fall asleep.  
“You better,” Rose said with a shake of her head before rushing off to her post.  
Daymond’s shoulders hunched, and he moved a hand to his chest that was still painfully clenching with guilt.  
He thought talking about this was supposed to make him better, not worse! Maybe it was because she mentioned Faba or because he knew he was too much of a coward to act off Rose’s advice.  
He shook himself as if trying to shake off the mountain of guilt that clung to him like stubborn burrs, put on his helmet and slowly followed in pursuit of the other employees leaving.  
Daymond blinked his heavy eyelids and looked up and for a split second, he swore he could see that there were strings attached to his hands that were moving him around like the puppet he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Malachite: *electrocuting Faba* "It really is so shocking you sneaked off by the boats you stupid creature, we treat you electrifyingly well!"  
> Faba: *agonized scratching*


	11. The Way The Cookie Crumbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Daymond gets his ass told and Malachite needs some help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! I finished the chapter and It only took me half a day!  
> I'm quite proud of his chapter as it was very fun to play around with and do really whatever I want, especially the first part.  
> Since I really enjoyed writing this chapter I hope you all really like it as much as I do!  
> Just a slight warning the next chapter might take some time to be posted because I'm going somewhere for July, but hopefully It will be worth the wait!  
> Daymond is going to have a really bad time in this chapter so be ready for that and as always I apologize in advance for any spelling errors or improper grammar you will probably see.

“Frosting” Roy demand holding out a hand.  
Daymond nodded and obediently handed the tube of blue frosting to the man.  
Roy took the frosting from him and continued to ice the large Wingull cookie.  
“You’re pretty good at this.” Franchesca complemented, gazing over Daymond’s shoulder to stare at Roy's work while a Meowth cookie rubbed against her leg, purring loudly and getting purple frosting all over her white lab coat and pants.  
Franchesca picked it up and took a small bite of its ear, “And they’re really good too!”  
“Hey! Don’t eat them yet!” Daymond scolded, “They’re for the President, not you!”  
“Yellow!” Roy called out, weirdly enough no so much as snapping at the redhead for eating his craftsmanship.  
“Right! Sorry... They just all look so good and I didn’t have breakfast this morning,” Franchesca confessed as Daymond handed the yellow frosting to Roy.  
“And… done!” Roy exclaimed as soon as he was done icing the beak sounding uncharacteristically excited as the Wingull flew in the air with a squawk and over to the Yungoos, Dratini, Stufful and Flareon cookies.  
“Now we just need to make a few more and we’ll be finished for the day!” Roy said as he gently shooed away a Cutiefly cookie that was dangerously close to getting in his exposed hair.  
“That's good, what cookies next Roy, a Growl-”  
A few impossibly loud knocks suddenly rang out through the lab cutting Daymond off and causing the man to flinch, all the animated treats instantly falling limp to the floor.  
What the hell, those doors weren’t locked in fact, they were the new motion capture ones, the door should be sliding right open.  
He looked around at the others in confusion, who were now all staring blankly by the door, arms held stiffly by their sides.  
“Hello?” he called out taking a step forward, “Who's there?”  
Only a rapid knocking answered back becoming louder and louder to the point where Daymond was afraid the door was about to be ripped off its hinges, then just as the knocking started it stopped leaving the room in a strange and unnatural silence.  
He turned his head to his coworkers about to ask them if they should call security or not only to find that they were no longer there, the room was now completely empty apart from him.  
He turned back to the door in a panic as the familiar *werrrr* of the door reached his ears just in time to see Faba, not in his horrible Ultra Beast form but as a human walk into the lab, his head held high as if nothing bad had ever happened to him.  
“Faba!?” Daymond spluttered as the door closed behind the blond, “H.h..how are you human right now?! It isn’t possible! I saw you just a few hours ago! You were a beast!”  
“You idiot! Of course, I’m still that monster! And here I thought you couldn't get any more idiotic than you were when I was still a human.”  
“I… wait what are you talking about?! What the fuck is going on here?!”  
Faba raised an eyebrow at him, “I think it’s rather obvious what’s going on here Mr. Daymond, I know it’s very hard for someone like you, but try using that brain of yours I didn’t even correct you for not addressing me by my proper title, but then again that title isn’t exactly mine anymore is it?”  
The man scoffed, a sneer appearing on his face, “It’s Malachites now ...I hate to say it, but no matter how stupid or obnoxious I find him it might actually be for the better as I can’t exactly remember who I am. Let alone all the projects I was working on at the time.”  
Something In Daymond’s mind finally clicked, “I’m dreaming” he said out loud.  
“Congratulations!” Faba praised sarcastically as he began to clap slowly, “You figured out something a stupid little five year old could solve!”  
“If this is a dream then go away! I want you to go away! Please, I already feel guilty enough!”  
Faba rolled his eyes at him and scoffed, his lips curling up to reveal a pair of canine teeth that looked sharper than they should be.  
“First of all you worthless pawn my title might have been forcefully stripped from me along with my humanity, but as you are the lowest form of scum I am still above you and I will not be spoken to in such a tone. Secondly, I am your manifestation, you can make me go away and continue your silly dream about making cookies any time you please, but a part of you wants me to tell you that you’re weak. That you’re a coward, that you’re nothing more than a mindless slave of this Foundation.  
That everything that’s happened to me is your fault or at least you think you deserve for me to call you as such.”  
“What happened to you wasn’t all my fault!” Daymond protested scrambling to the corner of the room with wide eyes, “I may have had a part to play, but not everything was my fault! Malachite, Lusamine they’re both more at fault than I am!”  
“You can tell yourself that all you like, but it doesn’t exactly make the guilt any better, now does it?” Faba asked with a cock of his head, in an eerily similar fashion that the beast version of him made, his pupils now more slit than they had been a moment ago.  
“I..I don’t..”  
“In fact in my or your opinion to be precise.  
In a way, you’re more guilty than both of them put together by being a bystander-” Faba raised his chin and toyed with his goatee exposing a few white hairs that had grown on his neck, “After all usually when someone sits by and lets something happen that means they think the thing they’re witnessing is completely okay.”  
“I didn’t think it was okay!!” Daymon's snapped failing to notice how Faba’s fingers now came to a point under his gloves or how the whites of his eyes were disappearing.  
“What they did to you… what they’re doing… it’s horrible and twisted and sick!”  
Faba’s nose wrinkled in disgust, the back side of his lab coat lifting up as the start of a scaly tail creeped out, “If it’s so sick and twisted to you than why are you not trying to stop it? I'm suffering and hurting every minute of every day Mr. Daymond! And weak people like you sit back and watch like my pain is a damn reality show!”  
“Faba, please... I-”  
“That's Mr. Faba to you, and you wonder why I hated you and all the other insufferable employees so much, you all are spineless, you barely stand up for yourselves or anyone else for that matter! You especially are so weak and pathetic, It disgusts me.”  
Daymond didn’t bother defending himself as there was nothing really to defend, Faba or this illusion of Faba was right.  
He really was pathetic.  
The taller man lowered his head in shame thus missing the horns that began to grow from the blondes skull, the continued growth of the white fur around his neck and how his tail got longer.  
“I’m sorry” he choked out tears pricking at his eyes, he was a horrible person.  
“Sorry? Sorry!? That's all you have to say for yourself!?” Faba snarled as his tail lashed back and forth, “Your pathetic apologies aren't going to do anything for me now! You need to stop wallowing and take some kind of action and help me, you sad excuse for a human being! If you don’t do something no one will and I will most likely parish because you chose to do nothing and that guilt… it will stay with you until you die.”  
Daymond wiped the tears from his watering eyes, he already knew all this of course, but hearing It all said by Faba made it so much worse, “I can’t help you Faba I’m sorry.  
I just can’t, do you have any idea what Lusamine would do to me… to you, if we got caught?” Faba shook his head.  
“it’s like Mrs. Rose said Mr. Daymond, worse things are bound to happen to you and to me if you do nothing rather than something. The only real thing that's stopping you from doing anything at this point is your cowardice.”  
Faba shook his head and Daymond was sure he growled softly, “But even if you do somehow shake off your nature It might already be too late for me.  
You’ve seen how they’ve treated me.  
Putting collars on me and shocking me till I obey.  
Now I’m acting like an obedient Pokemon, and it’s all thanks to your refusal to take action. What ever fragment is left of me, the real me.. it’s bound to be gone very soon.”  
Daymond looked up at Faba already large eyes becoming wider and skin paling to a degree ware the man looked ready to faint.  
His old boss smirked at him letting Daymond get a better look at his canines that now poked out of his mouth.  
“You look surprised Mr. Daymond why? after all, even before the President stabbed that needle in my neck you've always seen me as a monster, didn’t you?”  
Daymond didn’t reply, too busy gawking at the horns and green scales that had just now started forming on the blonds face.  
“I...I..you..you!” Daymond spluttered, pushing himself further into the corner like a scared Pokémon.  
Faba laughed bitterly a sound that grew more deranged as tears began to stream down his face that morphed into a muzzle, and ears stretching out into the bat-like ones he was now familiar with.  
“Ironic isn’t it that I literally am one now-” Faba put his deformed face into the crook of his arm and erupted into wet hacking coughs before he could finish.  
“A monster… you called me a monster when the worst thing I did to you was yell at you when you made my coffee the wrong way and it insult you when you time and again! And you..you.. turned me into a…”  
The man coughed again, staining his lab coat with red as he suddenly fell to the floor on all fours.  
“You did this to me Daymond! You did this! You did!! It was all because of you!” Faba howled his words distorting into snarls and growls.  
In a span of about twenty seconds, his mane quickly finished grawing around his neck, poison stingers ripping out from his sides, scales sweeping over the remained of his body and his bones snapping into unnatural positions.  
“You’re right! I did this! This is my fault! Everything is! Everything is all my fault!” Daymond whimpered sounding almost as pained as Faba. The creature now wiggling out of his tattered clothing and stalked closer to Daymond with his teeth bared in a terrifying snarl, the fur on his neck standing on end and stingers unfolding from his back, looking ready to strike.  
Daymond screamed as Faba suddenly lunged toward him and raised his arms in front of his face, then suddenly found himself falling backward through what had just been a wall and landed hard on his back, knocking the wind out of him.  
He groaned and laid there for a few moments waiting for Faba to jump on him again and rip him to pieces, but the creature had vanished he was all alone in this strange pitch black room.  
The troubled man was about to push himself to his feet and try and find a light switch or more importantly a way out when a painful electric shock shot through his whole body.  
Daymond let out a cry, clawing at the tight metal collar that was suddenly around his neck.  
“No please Arceus no! Get off m-” the collar electrocuted him before he could finish, it continued to shock him again and again and again.  
The brown-eyed man cured in on himself, having given up trying to remove the color as the harder he yanked the tighter it seemed to get.  
After what was probably only about a minute the shocks thankfully stopped just as the sound of footsteps began to his ring in his ears.  
He turned his head to them, “Malachite?” he whispered hoarsely as the figure looked down at him allowing his face to become visible.  
The ocean eyed man didn't say a word to him. He just stared at him with a disgusted expression and to Daymond’s horror pulled a familiar looking needle out of his pocket.  
“No! Malachite please don’t do this!” Daymond pleaded, not hearing the muffled squawking as Malachite raised his arm about to stab him when Daymond was suddenly hit with a blast of icy cold water that caused him to wake up with a scream loud enough to wake a Kamala, tangling his limbs in the covers and falling with a *thud* off his bed.  
He could hear Nigel squawk and pull the covers off him with his beak as Daymond sat up dripping wet and shaking.  
He touched his neck, no collar.  
Daymond sighed in relief, “Thanks for waking me Nigel,” he told the flying type who landed on his knee and nuzzled his chin with the top of his feathery head.  
The man gently hugged the Pelipper to his chest and ran his hand through the bird's feathers but was not able to properly relax as he glanced around his dark room.  
He needed to get out of here, he needed to get out of here now.  
His room was just too stuffy and small like the lab he had seen in his dream.  
He slowly let go of the Pokémon and got to his feet then quickly stripped off his soggy pajamas and pulled on his uniform and gloves with the water type flying around him squawking worriedly.  
“I’m just going for a walk, don’t worry,” he said reassuringly, “You can stay here and sleep if you want.”  
The Pelipper shook his head and perched on his shoulder, its claws digging stubbornly into his shoulder.  
Seeing as his partner wasn't going to move any time soon Daymond sighed and shoved the Pokémon's dive ball in one of his pockets not even bothering to pull on his helmet, “Fine you can come with me, but if you use water gun on the other employees like last time its back in the ball for you.”  
Nigel let out a series of caws that sounded a lot like laughter that made a ghost of a smile appear of Daymond’s face.  
Looked like he definitely wasn’t getting any sleep tonight like he promised Rose.  
Daymond huffed not looking forward to another lecture from her and hurriedly left his rooms with Nigel.

~

Eventually after about forty-five minutes of walking Daymond finally relaxed.  
The placement of his Pelipper on his shoulder made him calmer than he would be otherwise as the Pokémon nuzzled his face and squawked annoyingly at every thing that so much as moved.  
Daymond was just starting what would be his third lap abound this particular part of the Foundation when a lab door in front of him opened.  
A pale greenish blue haired man rushing out.  
“Daymond!” Malachite exclaimed when he spotted him, grabbing him by the wrist and yanking him inside the lab, “Thank Arceus! I know you’re still mad at me, but please, I really need your help!” the man begged letting go of him to dodge Nigel’s bill as the Pokemon tried to bite him and closed the door, “The President is going to kill me!”  
Daymond patted his partner and put the water type back in his ball “Calm down, of course, I’ll help you.”  
He answered, taken back by Malachites attitude, “What do you need help with?”  
Malachite bit his lip, “I was doing another training session tonight with the President's beast.”  
Daymond cringed, not another thing with Faba, not now.  
“And it ended up biting me Daymond… really hard” Malachite continued taking his hand that up till now had been shoved in his pocket and showed it to Daymond.  
Luckily his teeth didn’t get him, but his beak currently did big time, the wound covering his whole hand and still dripping large amounts of blood. The darker man gasped and gently took his hand, inspecting it carefully, “Malachite you need to get this treated now! This is really deep!”  
Malachite tugged his hand away and swallowed, “I lost my temper Daymond you have to understand. I didn’t mean to hurt it that bad!”  
Daymond felt his stomach sink, “What did you do?”  
Without another word, the ocean eyed man pushed him into another part of the lab that looked like the room Malachite did his training in.  
In the far corner of the room, laid Faba curled into a tight ball, his green scales covered in blood and dozens upon dozens of very familiar boot shaped bruises.  
The same ones that Daymond had seen littering his body after every single training session.  
Malachite didn’t… he had his suspicions, but this outright confirmed it.  
“You're the one who's been going overboard with punishments during these training sessions aren't you? Franchesca never gave him a scratch, you framed her didn’t you?!” he growled.  
When Malachite didn’t reply Diamonds anger flared, “DIDN’T YOU!?”  
The Branch Chief flinched at his yelling and nodded, “Yes I am, but I’m just giving it what it deserves Daymond! You hated him as much as I did! You have to understand, and as for Franchesca, I thought you hated her! And besides, she only got demoted, I made sure the President didn’t fire her or anything! I couldn’t let the President find out it was me she would have ripped me apart!”  
“I can’t believe you! You sick twisted… No one-”  
“Please, Daymond let's not argue none of that’s not important right now! It’s breathing is really shallow! I think I might have broken something or I electrocuted it for too long. You have to heal it Damond! I don’t know how and Lusamine will kill me if it dies!”  
Diamonds blood turned to ice, NO, no, no, no…  
Faba couldn’t die now.  
He had to do something, he had to!  
He wasn’t just going to sit around and watch Faba die, he had to save him!  
“Get some Hyper potion, Gauze, Cotton balls, Burn heal and Burn cream now!” he demanded, already squatting down next to the twitching creature and pulled his long forked tongue out of his mouth so it wouldn't restrict his airway.  
“On it!” Malachite said before vanishing into another room.  
Daymond moved his hands around each part of the scaly creature's body for once not feeling the urge to wash his hand and felt a rush of relief when he felt no breaks.  
“I’ve got all the stuff!” Malachite said as he entered the lab.  
“Good bring it over here and take the damn collar off him!”  
Malachite compiled without question, exposing the burn marks on Faba’s neck.  
Daymond felt another rush of relief, they aren't nearly as bad as he thought they would be.  
He took the burn heal and hyper potion and sprayed the burns, he then tenderly applied the cream and wrapped the gauze around his neck with the cotton balls on the actual buns to avoid irritating the burns.  
“It’s not going to die is it?”  
“No, he’s going to be fine as long as you turn the heater up for a while and don’t move him. Don’t worry about his breathing, it's just a side effect of the electroshock's and should return to normal within the next few hours… You need to keep a close eye on him Malachite and if his breathing slows even more or he starts convulsing which is unlikely, come get me immediately.”  
“For how long? Lusamine will be here to pick it up at seven thirty! She’ll be so angry with me! And what about the collar? When can I put it back on?”  
That was what Malachite was so worried about? The stupid fucking collar?  
“He needs longer than that to recover! Just make an excuse about him being tired because he's not used to training his late at night or something and as for the collar I would say keep it off for a few weeks or it’s going to irritate the burn, but since you can’t exactly do that just wrap the wound a few more times.”  
Malachite dipped his head at him, “Thank you Daymond! Thank you!”  
“Don’t thank me,” he growled darkly before leaving the lab without looking back and quickly made his way back to his room as soon as he got there and closed the door gagging, just barely making it to the bathroom before he vomited.  
That was it, he was done, he was so done.  
Malachite and Lusamine aren't ever going to stop hurting Faba and that was obvious to him now Franchesca and her group wasn't going to help him get away from this hell and neither was anyone else.  
Wicke wasn’t going to find out what was going on... the other employees were covering up what they all had done very nicely.  
He could feel Nigel’s ball shake as if sensing his trainer's distress as Daymond lifted his head.  
He had made up his mind.  
He was going to help Faba escape, no matter what the cost was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daymond; *screaming*  
> Nigel; is this bitch really having another nightmare? Ugh gotta wake his ass up I guess, you humans as so full of angst I swear... *spits water in his face* there your awake happy now?! Geez... my human is so annoying I swear...but I love him anyway what the hell.


	12. One Last Failure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Daymond goes for a swim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos! I've finally finished the chapter!  
> Took me a lot longer than I thought It would, as I added a lot, but I'm pretty happy with it!!  
> This is basically going to be the end of this particular part of the story, but don't worry I still have a ton to wright.  
> Also, were about to see some of the other characters like Lillie and Gladion, but sadly will be leaving Ather for a while, won't be seeing Lusamine or Malachite for a little bit and won't be in Daymond's point of view al all for the rest of the story, well actually that's a lie their going to be in a little of the next chapter, but after that we won't be seeing them for a while.  
> Anyways enough with the exposition, I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors you will probably see and really hope you enjoy this chapter!

Daymond crept around the lab door as quietly as possible, hoping his weeks of planning and strategy wouldn’t be in vain and everything would go as smoothly as an escape plan could go.  
He pushed his back against the wall, although he had his helmet on he was sure to be careful to stay out of sight from anyone who walked past the lab he was watching and rolled down his sleeve to glance at the watch he had put on, mentally counting down the seconds until it happened.  
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.  
There was a brief moment of silence before a thunderous boom shook the foundation.  
Daymond could feel his chest loosen slightly, good it had exploded just as planned!  
He just hoped no one was walking anywhere near lab G when the machine he tampered with went off.  
The soft *werrrrrrr* of the lab door followed by fast, heavy footsteps confirmed that Malachite had run out of the training room, “What's going on? What exploded!?” the man called as he raced toward the hall towards the cries of several other employees, “Is anyone hurt?!”  
“No sir, but something in lab G just ex-”  
Daymond stopped listening to the group, and walked briskly to the door and punched in the code, slipping in the lab before the door even opened all the way.  
“Faba!” he said urgently rushing over to the creature whose head rose with a small whine at his name.  
“It's me Daymond!” he said taking his helmet off to give the creature a reassuring smile.  
As well as planning just Daymond had also tried to befriend the creature, to make him trust him, he would talk to him or more tell him about various different things such as, the limited things he knew about Faba when he was a human, the Pokémon he was currently trying to rehabilitate and even bits and pieces of his personal life.  
He would even sneak him some human food which Faba actually ate.  
Daymond supposed the reason why he refused to eat the food the President and the others gave to him was that it was Pokémon food and because it was usually in a bowl, on the ground.  
Interestingly enough he found that now that he was treating the creature more like a human Faba was acting a little more like himself by being more a little more stubborn with him, and he swore the creature was trying to form syllables a few days ago.  
He even got picky with the food he brought him after a few days.  
All this was extremely revealing for Daymond. Faba had been acting so bad lately too Pokemon- like.  
Curling in to a fetal position, growling and whimpering, the list went on.. Dehumanization could really do wonders on the human mind even if Faba wasn’t exactly human.  
The creature's eyes lit up at the sight of him, his ears pricking up.  
“Hey umm, I don’t know if you can understand me entirely, but I’m getting you out of here like I promised okay? I’m taking you to my aunt's place, for now, no one will find us there and I’m sure she’ll spoil you silly! She definitely spoils Nigel plenty... We can figure things out from there. You just have to come with me!”  
Faba gurgled and walked toward him.  
“We’re going to ride on a boat together! Doesn't that sound nice!? I even got some of those cookies you like!  
Daymond swore he could see the creature's tail wag faintly as Faba made the rest of the way over to him and started to sniff at one of his pockets.  
“No cookies now Faba!” he told the creature putting his helmet back on, “I’ll give you some later for now just be sure to keep up with me alright? We have to be fast.”  
Opening the door back up, Daymond made sure Faba was following before full-on sprinting down the hall and in the area of the large balcony.  
He had to hurry, even if he didn’t have to resort to other means to get Faba to follow him, he was on an extremely tight schedule and if he was delayed for even a minute they wouldn’t be able to get to the boat on time.  
They were making decent progress expect a few stumbles from Faba as the creature hadn’t yet run in this form and was obviously struggling to keep up with him and taking careful turns to avoid the halls he so much as heard a whisper down.  
They were just getting close, close enough for Daymond to foolishly let his guard down and stop focusing as much on the surrounding hallways, which proved to be a fatal mistake as he slammed into two employees who were turning a corner.  
“Hey! Where are you going!? Didn’t you hear?! something in one of the labs... Wait you have the President’s beast! Branch Chief Malachite is supposed to be training it right now! No one else is supposed to be handling it!”  
Daymond pushed the whimpering Faba behind him and puffed out his chest.  
Standing a little higher on his tiptoes he looked down at the smaller grunt, “On normal circumstances, you would be right, but as you know lab G just exploded! Branch Chief Malachite just told me to bring the Presidents beast to her quarters, because he is currently handling that situation! If you have a problem with his authority, I'm afraid you must bring it up to the President, now I really must be going the President is waiting.”  
“The Branch Chief really told you that!!?” the second employee yelled loudly that Daymond realized with a start was no mere employee, but Assistant Branch Chief Archer, “Because he just told me to go and get it!! W..who ever you are your not supposed to be here with it!!”  
Instead of replying, the increasingly panicking man pulled out a dive ball from his pocket and let his partner out.  
“Nigel use water pulse now!” he commanded before the two could react.  
“Pellll!” the Pokemon cried, a large spout of water exiting his beak and hitting Archer and the nameless employee square on.  
Both of them stumbled back, soaking wet and began to pull out their own pokeballs.  
Daymond didn’t give them a chance to let their partners out, “Okay! Now use hurricane! Get their pokeballs away from them!”  
With a few flaps of the Pelipper’s powerful wings that nearly caused Daymond to fall over the ultra ball, quick ball and normal pokeball were flung from their hands despite their attempts to hold on to them and landed by his feet, which Daymond rolled off to the side.  
“Water pulse again!” he demanded, this time the move knocking Archer and the dark-haired woman to the floor.  
Having no means to protect themselves the two glanced worryingly at their pokeballs then fled down the hall they came down, no doubt to go get reinforcements.  
Daymond would have tried to stop them, by knocking them out or something, but he had already wasted enough time already, the boat was probably nearing the balcony by now.  
“Come on Faba! Almost there! You're being so good!” Daymond told him giving him a small pat and motioning for the creature to start running again before the shaggy-haired male ran as fast as he could the rest of the way toward the balcony, nearly slamming into the banister as he slid to an ungraceful stop.  
His face lighting up when he spotted the large boat, it’s loading area full of crates of pokebeans.  
It was right on time.  
He had had just managed to get Faba’s collar off not wanting to keep the degrading object on him and threw the horrible thing into the ocean when he heard the faint sound of no more than a dozen pairs of feet were rapidly approaching his general direction.  
Shit, they were coming too fast!  
If they jumped off now all the employees would see him and Faba on the boat and confront them on the mainland! Thus making this whole plan a worthless waste of time and effort.  
He didn’t even want to think of what Lusamine would do to them after that.  
If Faba was going to escape he needed a distraction, and what was a better distraction than Daymond himself?  
“Okay Faba” he began, trying his best to keep the fear out of his voice, “I need you to jump on the boat for me, there has been a slight change of plans, I can’t join you right now, I'm sorry!”  
The creature glanced at the boat and nudged his leg with a whimper, visible worry in his eyes.  
Worry for him, Faba was worried for the person that did this to him in the first place... Daymond heart both melted and clenched at the same time.  
“I’m sorry I can’t. They’ll catch you! Please just jump, I owe you this much! I can try to find you again in a few day’s as soon as I remember again!” Nigel, who was now resting on Daymond’s shoulders squawked to the beast urgently and flapped his wings a few times. Still, the creature didn’t move, pulling on one of his pant legs with one of his clawed hands, that still worried look in his eyes.  
Arcrus, maybe Roy was right in a way..the human Faba would’ve never been worried about him, he would’ve jumped into the boat by now, probably leaving behind a very snarky remark.  
Faba really was gone in a way, even if he was right by his side. Even if he somehow managed to change Faba back into a human, he doubted he would even remotely be the same person or even act like a person at all... Oh, what he would give for the man to call him an idiot, for him to yell at him, even if it was just one more time. Getting extremely desperate at this point as the footsteps were further approaching and not wanting to just push the poor creature over the edge Daymond took the green mug with a yellow caution sign he had stolen from the staff room that he had taken for plan B out of his pocket.  
“Look Faba your mug! You recognize it right?” he asked, dangling the cup in front of his face.  
The creature cocked his head gurgling softly, staring at it intently.  
“Then go get it!” Daymond yelled throwing the cup over the barrier and on to the boat that was just about to pass them, feeling guilty that the mug would probably break on impact.  
Faba gave him a surprise almost hurtful look, the fur on his neck fluffing up before he leaped after it.  
He could hear the faint sound of the creature cry out in pain as he must have landed.  
He let out a small sigh of relief and sprinted back the way he came. He had made it! Faba had made it! Now he just had to avoid the other employees as long as possible.  
“Come on Nigel!” he yelled as loud as possible, “Faster!”  
“Peli! Peli! Per! Per!” Nigel cawed for once his loud caws coming to use as Daymond stomped through the many halls.  
Daymond hadn’t gotten all too far when a blond man with a Manectric and an employee with his Houndoom yelled at him to halt a few yards behind him. Daymond immediately recognized the Houndoom.  
It was definitely Roy’s, he felt his heart sink, maybe he wouldn't last as long as he thought... No one else in the foundation had a Houndoom, especially one so powerful and deadly, even if Nigel was a water type Roy’s Houndoom was unbelievable powerful.  
“Nigel use water pulse and aim for their feet!” he called out, just barely managing to dodge a small spark of fire that grazed the side of his uniform.  
“Peliiii!” his beloved Pokémon squawked, obeying his command and causing the Pokemon and their trainers to slip and fall to the floor in a mess of tangled bodies.  
“Hey!! Daymond I know it's you! You need to stop!!” he heard Roy yell at him as he ran off, “You’re just going to make things worse than they already are!”  
Daymond ignored him, silently cursing his stupidity for called Nigel by his actual name, his lungs and muscles begin to burn as he took a right, then a left, then another right.  
He was just about to make yet another right when three grunts with their Pokémon including a masked employee with her Mawile which certainly belonged to Samantha blocked his path.  
Daymond skidded to a stop and turned to run in the opposite direction when Roy and the male grunt with their pokemon blocked that path as well.  
The scientist halted again breathing heavily, “N..N...Nigel u..use-”  
“Bolt, use thunderbolt on the Pelipper!”  
“Riza, use bite on his wing take him down!”  
Roy and the taller man demanded.  
“Dodge the thunderbolt Nigel! And knock the Houndoom back with a hurricane!”  
With a surprising graceful flip, the flying type flew to the right all the while flapping its powerful wings thus knocking Roy’s Houndoom a few feet back and nearly crashing into her trainer’s legs.  
“Zazu, hit the Pelipper with your furry attack!”  
“Symphony, use iron head!”  
“Duggie, use night slash!”  
The three employees commanded their Toucannon, Dugtrio, and Mawile.  
“Quick Nigel use protect!” Daymond yelled, but his command came too late as the Houndoom had unexpectedly lunged again and sunk her teeth into Nigel’s wing, dragging him to the ground and putting the water type in the perfect position to be hit with all three of the other Pokemon's attacks.  
“Nigel!” he cried as his partner let out a high pitched squawk of pain and fell limp in a dead faint.  
He called his Pokemon back in his dive ball and forced an ugly scowl on his face.  
Don’t get Daymond wrong he was scared shitless, but he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing his fear, and besides, the worst thing that would happen to him was that Lusamine would erase his memories which he had already jotted down several exclamations of what had happened in the past mounts and put them around his quarters in places he knew he would see them.  
Then all he would have to do is lie about going out and find Faba on the island, hopefully the creature would do fine on his own for a day or so.  
“Hahaha! We all have you caught you! Tell us who are you?” Archer asked as he gently stroked his quick ball, having finally caught up with him, the female grunt lingering a little behind him.  
Daymond slowly took off his helmet, causing a few of the grunts to gasp and Samantha to mutter an audible, “Oh no..”  
Even Archer looked a tad surprised, but quickly shook it off, “Daymond?!?! Woh I didn’t think it would be you!! But you have been treating our recent experiment nicer than usual.. so.. where did you put him then?”  
“Where is what?” Daymond asked.  
“The experiment!! Our recent one.. ohh umm.. The President’s beast! What did you do with it!? That was by far one of my favorite experiments! I don’t want to loose it!”  
“Please, Daymond! Just tell us.” Samantha said in a pleading tone, “We really can’t have him getting out.”  
Daymond just shrugged.  
“Come on, don't be stupid, It’ll be better for you and everyone else if you just tell us where you put him and I'm sure you won’t be punished too severely,” Roy said firmly.  
“No” Daymond snarled.  
“Daymond it would be wise of you to tell us now before the President gets here, you know what she’s like when she’s angry..”  
Daymond’s heart skipped a beat, “I don’t care how angry she is, I'm not telling you anything!”  
From behind Archer Daymond could see the blond grunt pale and step to the side to let the tall figure of Lusamine pass.  
“You caught him! Fantastic job Assistant Branch Chief Archer! Now, where's my beloved beast at?”  
Archer along with all the other employees flinched, they obviously hadn’t expected Lusamine to show up so soon.  
“The experiment wasn’t with Mr. Daymond when we caught him, Ma’am. I.. don’t know where your beast is right now.. Daymond is refusing to tell us where he hide it.”  
Lusamine slowly turned her head to him, “Well this is unexpected. Tell me what did you do with my beast Mr. Daymond?” she asked softly.  
Daymond’s eyes narrowed at the women, no matter how scared he was of her he also despised her for everything she had done, not just to Faba, but to everyone and everything she had ever done at the foundation’s, what she did to her poor kids, what she did to all the poor Pokemon that had the misfortune to be ‘loved’ by her, and how she made all the employees work in fear and made them to scared to leave.  
He too worked in fear, he had been for quite a while now.  
So why? Why did it take until someone was literally being tortured for him to finally say something to her? He knew so many other people wanted to badly to call her out for lesser things she had done, and quit their job and run away as fast as their legs could carry them but as always their fear won out, fear of 'accidents' that made them lose their memory entirely or fears that they would mysteriously get their bank funds drained.  
So why him of all people? He was probably more scared than the rest of them as it wasn’t just himself in the line... Daymond wondered had Faba worked in fear too? The man knew Faba really liked working in the foundations but, did he ever wonder what would happen to him if he disobeyed or said something he wasn’t supposed to? Just like all of them? The way he acted proved otherwise, but it was most defiantly like that the last few mounts he had worked here.  
“Fuck you! You're insane! All the things you’ve done. What you did, what we all did to Mr. Faba was sick and unforgivable! I’m not going to ever tell you where he is so you can torture him even more! You treated him like he was less than a pokemon! It’s wrong! It’s beyond wrong!”  
The other employees minus Roy and Samantha gave each other confused looks, Archer just swaying back and forth as Lusamine got uncomfortably close to him.  
“What I did was make him perfect, make him more beautiful than he could ever dream to be! All his pain was and still is a necessary repercussion to achieve such perfection! It’s not wrong in the slightest!”  
“But, he didn’t want it!” He yelled, standing on his tiptoes to be at eye level with her, “He didn’t want to achieve your fucked up version of perfection only a crazy person would!”  
“I wouldn’t expect someone as insignificant as yourself to understand… Now I know you most likely want to keep my beast for your own devices, he Is quite pretty after all, but he is mine Mr. Daymond, so I will ask you where… is… my… beast?”  
Before Daymond could stop himself, he swung at her.  
It was a dumb move and he knew it, but the way she was implying Faba was her property and she just assumed he wanted Faba for the same reason she did hinting that he was like her, pissed him off and made him want to wipe that studied fake smile off her face.  
His hit didn’t land, with the women easily catching it. She twisted it painfully and pulled Daymond even closer to her where he could now feel her uneven breaths on his face.  
The man let out a soft hiss of pain as the woman bent his wrist even more, “I'm starting to lose my patience with you, Mr. Daymond. If you don’t tell me where my beast is now, I’m afraid you’re going to have an accident that will severely damage your wrist.”  
Daymond let out another cry as she twisted his wrist near its limit, around him all the employees stayed quiet, they all looked horrified but did not move to intervene.  
Wow, now he really understood what Faba or dream Faba had meant about them all being spineless.  
Especially now that for once he was the one being hurt and not a bystander.  
Lusamine twisted his wrist more, “Where is he, Mr. Daymond?!”  
“By now? Hopefully Far, far away from your crazy ass.” Daymond said through gritted teeth.  
“Daymond you didn’t.” Roy ground as Samantha gasped in shock, looking oddly horrified.  
Lusamine's eye twitched along with her smile, “You.. you let him escape... You let him escape didn’t you?” she asked, her long nails digging into his arm and twisting his wrist a little more.  
Daymond glared at her and tried to pull away from the unstable women, but she only tightened her grasp and began to slowly drag him in the opposite direction.  
Daymond didn’t bother trying to get away as it would only send waves of pain up his throbbing wrist.  
“Oh Mr. Daymon, I always expected to be betrayed by someone in the foundations yet again, but I never expected It to be you of all people! Branch Chief Malachite always spoke so highly of you.”  
This was it, Lusamine was taking him to have his memories wiped clean. This definitely wasn’t going to be pleasant. “I’ll be honest Mr. Daymond you’ve really surprised me, I've always figured you as the cowardly type. Oh well, Mr. Malachite is going to be quite upset when I inform you of your betrayal...." she said with a shaky, unstable tone of voice.  
Dragging her with him until they got to the opening to the balcony and let go of him, the boat long gone over the horizon.  
Lusamine suddenly began to tear up, her whole body visibly shaking as she continued to twitch.  
“My beast... because of you… MY BEAUTIFUL BEST IS OUT THERE!!!” she screamed motioning at the water and getting spit on his face, “Oh the poor thing must be so frightened without me! Don’t worry my precious pet I will find you!”  
She let go of him and rubbed her eyes, proceeding to pull a Pokéball from her pocket.  
Daymond rubbed his aching wrist as her Mismangius came out of the ball with a small cry.  
He took a small step back, why was she letting her Pokemon out!? Wasn't she supposed to make someone bring out a psychic type that would make him forget!?  
The man glanced around for any means of escape, But Lusamine and the others were blocking the only exit and like hell, he was jumping into the water, even if he was a very good swimmer the waves and the underwater currents were just too damn strong, he would drown!  
“I’ll find you and bring you home where you belong my beautiful beast, but first I must dispose of this worthless trash, Mismangius use the strongest shadow claw you can. Don’t hold back!”  
Daymond only had time for his eyes to widen, and hear Roy and Samanta's scream; “Madam President no!” before the Pokemon's attack slashed into him with tremendous force, sending him flying into the air.  
He could feel the front of his uniform become damp with blood, as he seemed to sore through the air in slow motion.  
He pondered… did he redeem himself? Maybe...  
What about the guilt? ya, it was still there, It would probably always be there, but it was bearable now.  
He got Faba away from the foundations, away from Malachite and Lusamine and all the other people who hurt him.  
Daymond just hoped Lusamine never got her grubby hands on him and someone, anyone would find out what was happening and set things right, and this time make it stay okay.  
...  
I’m sorry Faba… I won’t be able to meet you there. Guess this is the last time I’ll ever fail you huh? and here I was excited to get your dumb coffee order wrong when you were human again he thought bitterly as body and his mind sunk then sunk into the depths of the Alolan ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess you can say Daymond didn't sea that coming!  
> (PS: I was going to make a joke about him being yeeted into the ocean, but that meme's dead and I thought It would be too predictable)


	13. The Wrongness Of It All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Faba is a scared abomination boi and Lusamine is a creeper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo!! I'm finally back with a new chapter!! Sorry, I took so long I was on a crazy long road trip with my family and didn't have any wifi, but I'm back now and promise I will try and post another chapter soon!   
> This chapter was annoying yet very fun to write, so I hope you all enjoy it too!   
> Anyhow after this chapter was going to go away from the foundations for a while, but we'll be back eventually and it's going to be one hell of a shit show I'll tell you that.   
> Well, with that said I apologize for any spelling mistakes or improper grammar you may see and I hope you enjoy the read!

Back, forth, back and forth.  
He liked the swinging of back and forth, it calmed him, it was familiar.  
He liked this, he didn’t remember why, but he liked this, he liked the swinging back and forth.  
He leaned his head on the box beside him, savoring the rocking, the wind that blew on him, the scent of saltwater, and the warmth of the sun on his body.  
He liked this, he was warm, not cold like in white bright place.  
White bright place hurt too, he didn’t like it.  
It felt familiar like he belonged, but now it hurts, it didn’t use to hurt.  
He was supposed to belong, be treated good, but now they hurt him.  
They weren’t supposed to hurt him, they weren’t supposed to! He wasn’t supposed to be hurt by them!  
Supposed to be treated good! Supposed to be re..spect..ed..?  
Not hurt, not looked down on, not kicked, not shocked, not yelled at, not hurt.  
He was supposed to be cared for.  
Now far away he went, far far away from white bright place. Where go? Where go? Where go? Rocking mostly stop now, he whimpers, he likes rocking, doesn’t want it to stop.  
He hears footsteps come, “What…..that…..thing?!” he flinches, yelling, yelling, there was a person a man now, yelling at him.  
He was yelling, yelling meant anger and anger meant hurt.  
He didn’t want to hurt.  
HE DIDNT WANT TO HURT.  
He didn’t like this anymore, he wasn't calm anymore, he was scared, he didn’t want to be hurt again.  
“John!... come!... Pokémon?” he yelled, causing him to flinch again.  
He was going to hurt him! Shock him!  
But, collar gone! Couldn't shock him! He could run away and not get shocked!  
Get way! He needed to get way! He couldn't be shocked! He needed to get away!  
But… what if find him!!? They hurt him more! Put collar back on!  
No, this place not familiar! Not white bright place!  
He could get away!  
He moved to get away and stumbled over green object and broken pieces, broken pieces, belong to object?  
Familiar? It was familiar! He couldn't leave it! Couldn’t! Couldn’t! Couldn’t!  
It was his! He knew it was his! Nice employee, brown hair had given it to him… He said was his…  
He couldn’t leave it! His! His! His! HIS!  
Pick up! Pick up! Pick up! PICK UP!  
He had to run! He had to pick it up and run!  
He awkwardly moved his limbs, arms?! Hands?! And tried to curl claws? Fingers? Around his object as men continued to yell.  
No… NO! That wasn't right!  
Why couldn’t he...? He was supposed to… no, no, NO!  
His body shook, this was wrong.  
He lowered head and picked up object in mouth.  
It felt wrong, this was wrong, he was wrong.  
“See John… look! Fre..ky...thing!”  
“Is… it… Ultra… beast?”  
Two men now! Not familiar! Both yelling! Both angry!  
He shook head, yes it was wong, he was wrong, but needed to run now!  
Needed to get away!  
Men move, hurt him!? Hurt him! But, blocking him! Need to run!  
He jumps claws, Nails? Go into men.  
They fall over, yelling, smells blood, scared, men now very mad! Very mad like blue-haired when bite- NO!  
He runs over men, limb, leg hurt from long fall makes him limp, get away! Get away!  
He runs over other man, get away! Get away! Get away!  
He runs past boxes, scared! Scared! Get away!  
He runs off boat, down dock.  
Yelling, screaming, it hurts his ears and makes him scared!  
Men, women, kids? Something like hate flashes in his mind that was quickly swept away by fear, they were everywhere! All yelling! All mad?  
Get away! He needed to get away!  
Suddenly, rocks, water, heat, cold, pink balls, red and white balls hit him! Hurt him!... they pokeballs…?  
He hears barking, growling, hissing, squawking, yelling!  
He burns! He throbs! He hurts! No shock...? But hurts! No! No! NO!  
Not supposed to treat him like this! They were not supposed to treat him like this!!  
He trips, get up! GET UP. Get away!  
Big Pokémon...? Jumps on him! Claws then dig in back! Teeth sink in tail, hurt, hurt he hurts!  
He yelps, stinger stabs them, they let go, he smells their flesh burn, hears them shriek, he gets up, runs down street.  
Feet, paws, claws, hooves behind him.  
No! No! They follow!? No!  
More rocks, lightning, grass, more heat, blue and yellow balls hit him… quick balls..?  
He cries out, runs past shops, not familiar! Not familiar! Buildings not Familiar!  
He crawls under fence, feels wrong! Not supposed to do this!  
He runs up hill, through grass, passed trees, over another hill, through tall grass and flowers, up tall sharp rocks that hurt his claws...? Hands? and feet?  
No more rocks hit him, no more water, no more red and white pokeballs.  
No more feet, paws, claws, hooves follow him, but he still runs.  
He hurt! He needed to run! Needed to hide! He hurts! Bleeds! Aches!  
He crawls through hole in rocks, rocks scratch belly, so hurt, so scared, so tired.  
This felt wrong.  
He lies down, rocks poke him, object out of mouth now, he stares at it.  
His… his… his… his familiar?  
Green…? Greeen! It… green! Green! It… it… his… was… in… brake...room?  
He shakes his head, whimpers more.  
This was the only familiar, nothing else familiar!  
Nothing...things familiar in white bright and place, halls familiar, men and women familiar, things familiar, rooms familiar, but nothing familiar hear.  
Nothing… nothing was… he was scared and he was alone, hurt and alone.  
He curls up, what now?  
He must keep hiding! Keep running! Or they will hurt him! White bright place will find him! Bring him back! Bad Familiar women who hurts and shocks him will!  
Very, bad blue-haired man will.  
They will be so angry, hurt him lots, put callar back on… no...  
He hurts now, where nice employee at? Gave him his familiar?  
Where… red-haired women who pets him nice...?  
ware other nice employees that make pain stop, they familiar, they nice to him, where… where they?  
He wants them, doesn't want to be alone.  
They… at white bright place? But he hurt..  
They… they there… He… he would stay hurt.  
Nice employees and red-haired girl are opposite of hurt, but they not hear.  
They not know ware he was at. They won’t come.. He curled further in on himself, clutching his familiar close and closed his eyes.  
Still scared, still hurt, and rocks still poke him, but was so tired, he had run so far…  
Takes a while, but he falls asleep and dreams of the nice pink lady he usually dreams of and the smell of sweet perfume.  
So kind, very kind is pink lady.

~

Lusamine inhaled Faba’s sent as she buried her face into the man’s unwashed lab coat.  
She curled up into a tight ball on her bed, a loud sob escaping her mouth.  
She missed him.  
It had only been about four days at the most, but the women already missed him so badly that her chest was at a constant ache.  
Her precious beast would usually be by her side at a time like this...  
He would always sleep with her every night with his back from her very graciously giving her most of the bed as he curled up on the very edge, apart from the night's when the poor creature would wake her up in the middle of the night with his screaming.  
It would always take hours for her to calm her down as her beast would hide under the bed and try to get away from her. She had to get him back, she just had to.  
The poor thing had to be so lonely, so scared, without her there loving him.  
Wandering around somewhere in the wilds of Melemele island with its dangerous terrain and wild Pokemon, not to mention her beast had no idea how to find food!  
She sobbed again and pulled the coat even closer to her chest.  
She would get him back! Her beast was not going to end up like her worthless children or her disobedient old beast or Mohn.  
The women whimpered at the mere thought of her beast vanishing like he had and took another long whiff of the researcher's cloths.  
Her precious beast would usually be by her side at a time like this...  
It nearly caused her to break into another sobbing fit, Faba smelled almost exactly like her husband now the more she thought about it, probably because they used to work so closely, she picked up the smell of; chemicals, herbs, metal, disinfectant, and Pokémon fur with a hint of mangos.  
Mangos, she picked up that scent in particular, she was sure it was from the same brand of shampoo Mohn used to use, she still had half an empty bottle of it in her shower she didn’t dare use. Faba must use the exact same brand.  
Her chest lurched, her sorrows growing even more painful.  
“I have to have my beast back, I just have to,” she mumbled aloud.  
If she didn’t get him back, if they never found him, that would mean she would have lost everything of Mohn, he would finally be truly gone to her.  
She would have nothing left.  
Her mind went blank for a moment, clutching the coat with tears silently sliding down her cheeks.  
Suddenly she was on her feet and an armchair crashed against the wall that she barely remembered throwing.  
Then there was a dent in the wall, then two.  
The couch was overturned and her covers become ripped in certain places.  
NO! That wouldn't happen! She wouldn't lose him! Couldn’t lose him!  
She felt so happy with him, happier than she had been in such a long time.  
He made her feel like she was finally complete again, but now… it felt like she was once again in the pieces she thought she glued back together.  
He was her’s! Her perfect beautiful beast!  
Whatever it took, no matter what it took she would get him back and this time never let the poor thing out of her sight or let any of the other employees have the honor of handling him ever again!  
She would forever have her precious beast by her side from then on!!  
Maybe even put a nice leach on him, so he could never wonder off again.  
The woman raised a photo that was sitting on the dresser above her head just about to throw it before she stopped herself, panting like a deranged Pokémon.  
Slowly she lowered her hand to look at it.  
It was the picture she had taken from Faba’s room along with his coat, the one with a much younger Faba and Mohn in it, her husband had a large grin that showed all his teeth with his arm slung over Faba’s shoulders, Faba himself just had on a small smile.  
They both looked so young. Faba didn’t even have his goatee yet and his eyes looked so much softer and happier.  
She hadn’t even met them yet when the photo had been taken, she met them a handful of years later on a cold, lonely night, she had been on a walk as were they.  
She was immediately attracted to the blond-haired Beware of a man, but the smaller man that he called his brother despite them not being related not so much, for one he glared at her the entire time that she and Mohn chatted and only respond to her in passive-aggressive remarks not to mention his ill-fitted mismatched clothing.  
When Mohn had mentioned the two of them had just started working at Aether Paradise she knew she had to follow.  
This man there was something special about this man, he was so kind, so caring, she had to have him.  
She had only taken the job part-time at first, much to her father's displeasure and worked on further befriending the man which would have been much easier if it weren't for his ‘brothers’ standoffish attitude.  
He really did hate her back then, trying to warn Mohn that she was just using him, yelling at her, but that didn’t stop her and Mohn from growing closer and eventually marrying and having children.  
Faba obviously wasn’t happy about it, but accepted the role as the best man at their wedding, stopped yelling at her and instead choose to ignore her and her children, when they were born despite Mohn’s, attempts to get them all to bond.  
When Mohn had disappeared their grief had been one, Faba was the only one who even remotely understand how she felt.  
When she took the Foundation, oh how he had ranted and thrown a hissy fit, but he never left as he threatened to.  
After all like her to Faba, she and the Foundation were the last connection he had to him, he needed her just as she needed him.  
He really was just like Mohn in away… So loyal…so determined...  
When she had lost her first beast, she was so terrified that she had lost Mohn for good, but with her new beast, she’ll always have a piece of Mohn with her.  
Now so more than ever, Faba and Mohn were always so inseparable after all..so close to each other.  
Especially now as her perfect beast, with them combined, she had her Mohn back.  
A knocking interrupted her thoughts.  
“WHAT!?” she screamed at a volume that grated her vocal cords.  
“It’s Friday Madam President… I'm here for the meeting with you.”  
Lusamine blinked, It was Friday already?  
She has been in bed for much longer than she thought.  
The woman was tempted to dismiss the man to leave her be, to stay in bed a little longer to grieve over her hopefully temporary loss, but Lusamine wanted answers and she wanted them now.  
Taking a deep breath, Lusamine put the photo back down and smoothed down her dress, sitting down on her bed that was now devoid of most of its sheets with her legs elegantly crossed, one of her hands gripping Faba’s coat like a lifeline.  
“You may enter Branch Chief Malachite.” she said as she unlocked the door remotely with her free hand, “And oh don’t mind the mess I’m afraid I might have lost my temper a bit.”  
Malachite entered, smart enough not to comment on all the overturned furniture to stand at attention by her bed.  
He was a lot paler than he normally was and had dark circles under his eyes, so dark that they almost looked like bruising.  
Her Branch Chief looked like he hadn't slept since the traitor helped her beast escape.  
Good, the man didn’t deserve sleep for letting this happen, he needed to put everything he had into finding her beat.  
“Tell me you’ve found something! Any clues to where he is on Melemele?” she asked pleadingly.  
“We think he’s currently around route three, we found some of what we think is your beast’s scratch marks on the rocks, but the whole ware they led to was empty, we think it might have run off again.”  
Lusamine's grip tightened on the coat, “How much longer is it going to take for you worthless employees to find him!! It's been almost a week! You should have found the poor thing by now! He must so scared and miss me so much. I need him Branch Chief! He needs me! We both need each other! We’ll die without one another!”  
“Finding it is easier said than done Ma’am, your beast never stays in one place for too long and other trainers the especially the Kahuna's on the island aren’t making matters any easier.  
We’ve tried telling them that the Ultra beast belongs to you, but other trainers still want to catch it for themselves even with the money we're offering for its return, it’s just a good thing it can’t be caught in pokeballs and well as for the Kahunas… they… well… they”  
The blue-haired man tensed and looked away from her, “They vocalized a few days ago that when they find it they are going to destroy it, it… Your beast hurt a few people and when Daymond was found in the ocean a few days ago with those claw marks on him they just thought your beast did it, I couldn’t exactly tell them the real reason why he was out there, so I just told them that I didn’t know why he was out there! and… as it can’t be caught with any pokeballs, they see destroying it as the only way to stop it before it hurts someone else..”  
Lusamine’s heart felt like it was just pierced.  
Of course, those merciless Kahunas would work that way.  
Especially after the other Ultra Beast’s sudden appearances and how they harmed some of the stupid islanders inhabitants not too long ago.  
The blond frowned, “Is Mr. Daymond alive Branch Chief?”  
Malachite nodded stiffly, “Y-Yes Ma’am they say a Mantine took him to the shore… it was probably one he surfed with… he.. hasn’t woken up yet....” the man noticeably shuttered, his lip trembling slightly, “And based on what little the doctor told me it doesn't sound like he’ll be waking up any time soon.”  
“That's wonderful!” Lusamine purred, “He won’t be able to tell anyone what has happened here, not that anyone would believe that worthless cowardly traitor over my beautiful self, the traitor is truly someone who can’t be trusted. Maybe I’ll even somehow bring his aunt into this, threaten her over what that horrible man said and did.”  
“What do you want us to do about the Kahuna's Madam?” Malachite interrupted in a strained tone of voice, his hands began to shake as he forced one of them him his pocket begging to visibly fiddle with something inside, still refusing to meet her eyes.  
Her eyes narrowed, “Branch Chief Malachite, Mr. Daymond deserves this, you understand that correct? He betrayed me, he betrayed you. He is nothing more than a filthy traitor who is deserving of pity of any kind. He is no longer your friend, a friend wouldn’t betray you in such a twisted way. A good friend would stand by your side no matter what don’t you agree? I mean he took my beast right under your nose! How could a true friend ever do that?!”  
Finally Malachite turned to her, anger clear on his face that Lusamne wasn’t sure was directed at her or his ‘friend’.  
“And to answer your question Branch Chief, be sure to order a few employees to tail them whenever they go off looking for my beast, and if they do find him… You know what to do…”  
“Right…” Malachite murmured, looking away from her again, “I’ll be sure to do exactly that Ma’am.”  
Lusamine stared at him intently, “Is that all Branch Chief?”  
“Yes, Madam President.”  
“Then don’t just conite to stand there being useless!” she exclaimed standing up and motioning at the door, “Go! You must find my perfect beast as soon as possible! You mustn't waste a single second!! And don’t you dare let those awful Kahunas or stupid trainers lay a finger on my beast!”  
“Yes, Ma’am!” Malachite said with a bow then left the women's room, nearly slamming the door behind him.  
Lusamine's frown deepened, deciding she would have to keep an eye on Malachite reflecting on the look on his face when she had informed him of Mr. Daymond’s treachery, for whatever reason her Branch Chief still seemed to care about the pathetic man.  
His loyalty to her might just be wavering... So many people she once trusted are now turning on her… now it was hard to believe who she could really trust.  
Her lips curled, and her nails dug into the fabric of the lab coat.  
Malachite would pay dearly if he dared betray her and she would make sure he would wind up worse than his weak, worthless friend.  
Her hands itched to break something as her anger flared back to life.  
Bringing the coat back up to her face she took a few more sniffs and sighed Mohn always knew how to calm her down...  
A smile that looked maybe a little to wide stretched across her face as she traced one of the golden buttons with her thumb.  
“Don’t worry my beast.” she murmured, “I’m never going to stop searching for you, no matter what happens to you. I’ll find you and bring you back home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slaps Faba* this bad boy can fit so much fucking angst in him.


	14. The Beast From Afar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lillie has an unusual encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hello! Hello! I have another chapter for you all! The story is going to slow down a little from here, but don't worry I'll eventually get to the good action and especially the juicy emotional bits ware I break most the characters!   
> They get hugs after though, so it all good for the most part!   
> Also, this chapter is short, but only because the next bunch are going to be super and long, so be ready for that!   
> Anyways I hope all of you enjoy this chapter and I, of course, apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes and improper grammar you'll probably see!

“Goodbye Profesor Kukui! Professor Burnet! I’ll be sure to be back soon!” Lillie exclaimed giving the two one last wave before exiting the little house.  
“Have fun on your training session with Snowy! And remember to put sunblock on cousin!” she heard Kukui yell behind her.  
“And don't forget to look out for the Fabeast Lillie! It’s still wandering around somewhere! And I really don’t want you running into it!”  
The Fabeast ...the name of the runaway Ultra Beast that recently escaped Aether Paradise nearly made her shutter.  
Why was it called the Fabeast? Well, honestly no one really knew or understood, the name wasn't clever in the slightest or in another language for something.  
That’s what the foundation just called it.  
“I won’t go far!” Lillie called back, “I really don’t want to run into it either!”  
“That's good to hear! But if you do see the Fabeast come to get one of us immediately!”  
“Okay.” the girl said, starting to have second thoughts about training today.  
She shook her head of these thoughts, no.  
Her and Snowy had been crammed in that house for almost a week now, just because she was scared of the thought of running onto the new Ultra Beast didn't mean Snowy should be cooped up as well.  
Before she could even get to the grassy area her Moonball shook in her pocket and the ice type appeared on the sand.  
“Vulpix!” the Pokémon cried stretching out all her stiff limbs from being in it for so long.  
“You must be really excited to go train, huh Snowy?” Lillie asked  
“Vol!” Snowy barked eagerly with all her tails wagging as the little Volpix bounced up and down in excitement.  
Lillie chuckled, her anxiety already starting to ease, “Alright then! Let's just get out of the sand first. It must be hot on your paws.”  
“Vollllll!” Snowy nodded happily, bounding toward the grassy area with Lillie in toe only to suddenly pause halfway there.  
The fox Pokémon sniffed the air.  
Her ears twitching as she turned her head to the back of the house where the trash cans were.  
“What is it Snowy?” she asked, “Is there another Youngoose in the trash? I thought Professor Burnet closed it yesterday..”  
“Pix! Pix! Vulpix!” She barked, taking a step back as every white hair stood on end.  
“Hey It's okay, I'm sure the poor thing is just hungry and If we feed them maybe they’ll leave!” Lillie soothed, “We can even try making friends with them! Wouldn’t that be nice!?”  
Snowy ears flattened against her head, “Vol Pix Vol.” it barked, hesitantly falling behind her trainer as Lillie walked toward the cans.  
The blond took a few berries she was keeping for Snowy out of her bag as a rustling noise became audible, It sounded way too big to be a Youngoose… In fact, it sounded too big to be any wild Pokémon that lived in this area.  
The girl wasn’t too worried about that though.  
She was far too concerned about feeding the poor Pokémon that was hungry enough to eat out of their trash.  
“Umm hello?! have some food if your hungry-”  
The girl paused as the trash cans came into view and Snowy began to growl as instead of a regular Pokémon digging through the garbage was was a medium-sized, green scaly creature with large fangs that poked out of its mouth and intimating stingers that sat careful picking at the pile of garbage with its front claws, the lid placed over to the side.  
The beast appeared to be sorting through the garbage and tossing the majority of it aside, like how a picky child put the food they didn't want off to the corner of their plate.  
It was the Ultra Beast  
Lillie unintentionally let out a scream that got the horned thing's attention.  
It stared at her for a moment, bat-like ears pinning to the sides of its head.  
Its eyes were full of terror and another emotion that looked almost like begging that took her back before quickly picking up a green object that was a little ways away from the can in its mouth that almost looked like a...mug?  
The Fabeast’s tail moved between its scaly legs, blood oozing from the many wounds covering its body than with a scared whimper it turned and bolted down the beach and behind a rocky cliff.  
Lillie couldn’t help but notice that it was limping badly, leaving a trail of blood behind it.  
“It… It ran away from me” the girl whispered in astonishment.  
She thought the beast was going to attack her, but it had run away.  
It looked so scared and ran away with its tail between its legs.  
“Vulpix?” Snowy whimpered, her fur finally lying flat as she sniffed at the puddles of blood by the knocked over trash can.  
Lillie put a hand to her mouth and looked in the area the Ultra Beast disappeared behind, “Oh no… I think it’s really hurt Snowy.”  
“Pix?”  
From the house, Lillie could hear the door swing open as Burnet and Kukui sprinted out toward her.  
“Whoa! Lillie are you alright? We heard you scream!” Kukui said looking around as Burnet put a comforting hand on her shoulder.  
“I… I saw the Fabeat!” she told them.  
“Really? If that's the case we should probably go inside Lillie.” Burnet urged her grip tightening on the girl's shoulder.  
“You two do that, Yah! I’ll go after It! Did you see where it went?”  
“Umm, It went that way,” she said pointing to the cliff.  
Kukui grinned at her rushing back in the house then quickly running back out with a net within the blink of an eye.  
“Wait! You're not going to...destroy it, are you Profesor?! I know it's supposed to be really mean, but it looked hurt already and it feels wrong too-”  
“Of course, I won't,” Kukui said softly, “I might be helping the kahunas to stop it from hurting anyone else, but I definitely don’t agree with their… extreme measures in doing so, yah?”  
Lillie relaxed and nodded, “In that case, I hope you’re the one to catch it! Good luck!”  
The man beamed “Thanks a lot, Lillie! I'm sure your luck will give me the extra strength I need to catch it!"  
Kukui waved at them, and let his Incineraor out of his ball then began to jog off in the direction of the cliff, “Well I better run! I know from experience this Ultra Beast is extra slippery! Hopefully, I’ll be home by dinner!”  
“Bye Kukui honey I love you!” Burnet called as he ran further into the distance.  
“I love you too!” They could just barely hear him yell back.  
“Vulpix Volll!” Snowy barked waving a paw.  
“I hope he’ll be okay.” Burnet sighed, gently pushing Lillie back into the house, “Ultra Beasts usually put up quite a fight when someone is trying to capture them, especially this one.”  
Lillie looked at her, “Don’t worry Professor, I don’t think the Ultra Beast will be able to hurt Kukui to bad... It already looked really hurt.”  
Burnet sighed softly and stepped inside of the house with Lillie and the Vulpix.  
“I can’t say I'm surprised the Fabeast has probably already run into countless trainers and wild Pokémon”  
Lillie bite her lip and looked at the door, causing Burnet to sigh again and get down on a knee to look the girl in the eyes, “Lillie please promise me you won't go looking for this ultra beast.”  
“Professor Burnet! I wouldn’t!”  
“Vulpix pix!”  
“I know you Lillie and I know based on that look on your face you were at least having second thoughts about it.”  
The small girl looked away at this.  
“I understand why you want to help it, but I don’t think It’s a good idea. The Fabest, It's very dangerous Lillie and you're not exactly an expert when it comes to battling yet, so if the Ultra Beast does try to attack you it won’t end well.”  
“Vulpix!” Snowy barked in disagreement.  
“It’s true, I'm sorry. I just don’t want to see you hurt. Let Kukui handle it alright? I’m positive he’ll do everything in his power to keep any of the kahunas from killing it, capture it peacefully, heal, and return it.”  
“That's one of the main things I'm worried about, I was really hoping mother changed, but I just think It would be better If we just sent It back to where It belonged like most the other Ultra Beasts.”  
The woman frowned, “I do too Lillie and I can't say I trust them after everything they’ve done and especially that they didn’t even tell us about the Fabeast when they found it, but I have tried to discuss the matter with the employees as the President always seems unavailable, but they are extremely persistent it goes back to the foundation with your mother. Apparently she's grown very attached to this particular Ultra Beast.”  
Attached? Oh no, had her mother become obsessed with another ultra beast?  
“I… could we maybe do what we did with it what we did for Nebby?”  
Burnet shook her head again, “That's… not a good idea Lillie. Nebby…It didn’t know any moves at all. It was helpless, this Ultra Beast on the other hand. It's already put five people in the hospital, and I don’t think it would cooperate with us.”  
The blond hung her head.  
“But I’ll tell you what Lillie, I know your mother has a habit to not treat Pokémon as she should, but if Kukui does manage to catch it, I’ll run some tests on it, and If I can prove the foundation has been hurting It, I promise I’ll do everything I can to keep it away from them.”  
“Okay… I trust you, Professor, I won’t go looking for the Fabeast I promise. Can you just tell me everything you’ve learned about it please?” She said despite the doubt in her gut, even though Burnet studied Ultra Beasts Lillie wasn't sure if she could keep the Fabeast away from Lusamine for long.  
After all her mother always found a way.  
Burnet's smile returned, “I’ll be sure to tell you everything, don’t worry.”  
A smile of Lillie’s own appeared on her face, and she hesitantly leaned forward to hug the women, but Burnet beat her to it and gently pulled her into her arms.  
Lillie hugged her back tightly, Burnet along with Kukui had given her so many of these since she had shown up here.  
They were so much different from her mother's hugs, her's were loose and distant, these were always comforting and warm.  
“Vulpix! Vulpix! Pix!” Snowy barked wiggling between the two’s arms and rubbing its furry checks against Burnet’s and Lillie’s  
“Awww Snowy!” Lillie laughed letting go of Burnet to give her Pokémon a hug, “Did you just want a hug to?”  
Snowy barked some more and licked the side of Lillie’s face.  
Burnet ruffled the Pokémon ears and stood up, “Well if you need me I’ll be in the labs and don’t leave the house for now Lillie, I'm afraid your training session is going to have to wait until Kukui comes back.”  
The ice types ears dropped with a whimper, “Volip…” it whined.  
“Hey it’s okay Snowy, we can train as soon as he gets back!”  
The vulpix only whined again clearly disappointed.  
Burnet gave the Pokémon another few pats to the head, “Sorry Snowy, I knew you two were looking forward to training.”  
“Pix,” Snowy grumbled with a small flick of her many tails.  
“Oh! I know what’ll cheer you up! I can read you your favorite book up in the loft!”  
At last Snowy’s perked up and jumped out of her trainer's arms to run over to the latter.  
“Remember I’ll be downstairs,” Burnet said as she left for the labs.  
“Ok Snowy let's read your book now,” Lillie told the vulpix, climbing up the latter, taking the book from Snowy’s mouth and settling down on the couch.  
She tried to focus on the book as she read, she really did, but her mind stayed firmly planted on the Fabeast and how it looked so hurt and scared.  
How the Ultra Beast didn’t attack, even if it could have injured or not.  
In fact, the beast almost looked pleading for a moment when their eyes met, had it been begging for help?  
No… that wasn’t possible, right?  
Pokémon and humans could look at others like that, but the Ultra Beasts had come from a world where such emotion wasn’t necessary.  
But its eyes… They set off an eerie emotion of both sadness and fear and seemed almost human and with the trash cans, she knew for sure Burnet put the lids on them and you could only get it off if you knew what you were doing.  
Any other Pokémon would have just pushed it over and tried breaking it open, but this creature seemed to pull it off by the first try based on the lack of scratch marks she remembered seeing on the can.  
The beast seemed more human than any kind of ultra beast she had heard about.  
Her grip on the book tightened, hoping with everything she had that Kukui would end up catching the beast before anyone else did, while also dreading what would happen to it if the foundations caught it and sent it back to Aether or worse… if the poor thing met its terrible fate at the hands of the Kahunas.  
Least to say… Lillie didn’t sleep well that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Burnet: "I know Lusamine has a habit to not treat Pokemon as she should..."  
> Lillie: *has flashback to all those pokemon stuck in the fucking ice blocks*
> 
> (PS also the Fabeast is supposed to be pronounced; fay-beast and not fab-east.)


	15. Of Emerald scales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lillie finds herself on a new mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos! I have a nice long chapter for you all on this scorching hot day that I'm pretty proud of since we get to see a lot more of the bean beast!  
> The next chapters are going to pretty long like this one and will also feature a few more familiar faces.  
> They might take a little longer to post than usually though since In starting school again very soon, but I'll post them eventually.  
> I promise I'm not giving up on this story as long as people are reading it!  
> Anyways as usually, I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes and improper grammar you will probably see and with that, I hope you enjoy the read!

“And… now, Snowy use powder snow!”  
The Pokémon leaped into the air, a blast of freezing cold wind exiting her mouth that hit a nearby boulder.  
Ice formed in the many cracks on the border causing the large rock to crack further then shatter apart.  
The girl and the Vulpix jumped backward as large chunks of stone flew in all directions getting dust all over her and the ice type.  
They were both silent for a moment until Lillie's face broke out in a large grin, “Good job Snowy! I knew you could do it!” the girl cried.  
“Vulpix Vol!” the Vulpix barked, looking proud of herself as she jumped up and down around the reminders of the bolder.  
“Yes! Yes! You did it! I’m so proud of you!” Lillie continued, jumping up and down as well with the little white fox, the ice-type even doing a few happy little flips and twists in the air,  
The two’s celebration was short-lived however when a long pain-filled cry carried across the sky.  
Both Pokemon and trainer froze midjump.  
The hairs on Lillie’s neck stood up as did Snowys fur.  
“What was that? Was… that a person?! Or a Pokémon?” she asked her Volpix.  
“Vol Pix Pix!” Snowy growled with a few shakes of her head. Jumping from Lillie’s arms glaring in the direction the noise came from.  
“I think I heard it!” shouted Hala’s voice somewhere above her in the darkness.  
“Over here! Follow me! We can’t let it get away again!” She could hear no more than nine pairs of feet follow the kahunas voice, running in the direction Lillie knew the cries hadn’t come from.  
The search team? If they were here that could only mean one thing; that the Ultra Beast had been the one to make those sounds!  
She opened her mouth to call out to them, but quickly closed it as she remembered Kukui wasn’t in that group tonight.  
As the footsteps faded, another cry this one much quieter rang out that made Lillie unsettled and caused her chest to ache.  
Those screams something about them was off, it had an eerie human-like quality to it, just like the eyes of the beast had.  
It sounded so scared and hurt similar in a way like the noises Nebby had made when her mother had forced it to open the Ultra Wormholes.  
Lillie found herself taking a small step forward the distressed cries.  
“Vol! Vol! Vulpix! Vol!” Snowy yapped, pulling on her skirt with her teeth and shaking her head.  
The blond shook her head as well, what was she thinking she couldn’t go find it! “Y..you’re right Snowy! I promised Professor Burnet I wouldn’t go looking for it! I can’t just break a promise like that!”  
Another scream echoed through the air causing Lillie to flinch and take another step forward.  
It sounded like it was in so much pain.  
“Vol! Vol! Volllllll!” The ice type barked, tugging more urgently on her dress.  
“The search team must have hurt it really bad for it to yell like that Snowy, and it was already injured the last time we saw it!” She remembered the vivid image of the beast during the first time she saw the creature flashing in her mind and the amount of blood that had been oozing from its body.  
The girl bit her lip, feeling extremely torn.  
Glancing between the way back to the house and the area in which the Fabeast had been screaming.  
Kukui.. maybe she could go get him! But... it would take a while to run all the way back to the house and she didn’t know how long it would take for the search group to run back in this direction after they didn’t find the Ultra Beast in the area they had gone.  
“It's dangerous… I can't go after it!” she whispered.  
So? That never stopped you before when you traveled through the ultra wormhole to rescue mother, or when you saved Nebby from Aether Paradise, a voice in the back of her head replied, you haven’t gone completely soft again have you?  
The girl gasped softly, all the danger she faced before hadn’t stopped her!  
Lillie knew she had to do something then and the same thing was for now!  
She had to stop being so unsure and scared and do what was right!  
Do what her heart told her!  
She didn’t want to break her promise to the professor, but the Fabeast was suffering! She couldn’t just leave the poor thing!  
Nothing deserved to suffer like that even if it had hurt people.  
A determined look appeared on her face as she pulled the flashlight she had brought out of her bag and shined it further down route three.  
“Come on Snowy we have to help it!” she said firmly, Clenching the flashlight in her hand.  
“Vulpix!” Snowy growled, planting her paws firmly into the ground, part of Lillie’s skirt still clamped in her jaws as Lillie began to walk forward.  
“I know what I said Snowy, but it’s hurt! We have to at least try and help it!”  
The Vulpix's grip loosened, but she still looked unsure, “Snowy come on, just let go and come with me, please? don't you want those offal screams to stop too?”  
Snowy whined softly as the Ultra Beast screeched in the distance and hesitantly let go with a nod, “Vulpix,” it yipped softly.  
“Thanks, Snowy. I knew I could count on you. I... think the screams came from over here.” she started as she walked down the route being careful to avoid the many flying type Pokémon that flew overhead.  
“Vol Vulpix!” Snowy suddenly barked as they began their descent down a relatively steep slope, jumping up a few rocks to point at a large dark stain on one of the rocks.  
“What is it Snowy?” she asked, shining the light on the stone to reveal a pool of fresh blood.  
“Do you think it’s the Fabest’s?” she asked, shining the light above the pool where more blood was smeared on the rocks, the way the stains started and where they were placed, It looked like the creature didn’t walk down the cliff, the poor thing had fallen.  
Lillies's throat tightened in horror.  
“Pix!” the ice type nodded, jumping to another rock below it to reveal another stain.  
“Oh, you found a trail! Good job!”  
“Vulpix!” she replied as the two followed the trail all the way down the route and into Melemele meadow.  
“H-hello? Fabeast? I’m here to help you!” Lillie said softly, as she walked through the large patches of flowers.  
The crimson color standing out like a sore thumb from the yellow flowers, even in the pitch blackness of night, the messy trail eventually leading them to the very corner of the meadow.  
“I'm not going to hurt you I promise, I only want to heal you. I even have some food if your hungry.”  
She could feel Snowy brush against her legs as Lillie crouched beside the end of the blood trail, confused where the Fabeast was and pushed aside some of the flowers to the side to find a fairly big opening on the side of the rock wall that was just big enough for her to crawl through, claw marks all around the bottom of the opening.  
“F-Fabeast? I’m coming in okay? Please don’t be scared.”  
She could hear a distant whimper along with a sharp scraping noise that became more distant as the Ultra Beast most likely scrambled further in the hole.  
Lillie slowly wiggled into the gap with Snowy following behind and gasped when she stood up, the hole had lead to a huge cave!  
She was afraid of her and Snowy accidentally cornering the Fabeast in a small space, but that definitely wasn't going to be a problem as the cave stretched on beyond her sight.  
There was even a large pool of water a little further away.  
“Fabeast? I know your hurt! I can heal you,” she said softly, pulling a few brightly colored Pokébeans out of her bag and walking down a slope.  
She turned her light again as another scraping noise came from the left.  
“Vulpix!” her Pokémon barked as a four-legged figure and a hint of green flashed in her line of sight before the creature jumped in fright, the beast retreating even deeper into the cave.  
“Hey! It’s okay we're not going to hurt you! I have food, see?” Lillie told it, moving the flashlight to the left of the cave, near the water.  
A large boulder was a few yards in front of the pool, and Lillie could spot a scaley, green tail poking out from behind it.  
The blond looked at her Pokémon and the two gradually approached the Ultra Beast from different sides of the boulder, shining the light more to the floor.  
“Okay, I'm getting closer to you now, Snowy my Vulpix is getting closer too, so don’t attack us, please. We just want to help. I promise we won’t hurt you”  
The Fabeast shrieked, a few pebbles falling from the boulder as the Ultra Beast pushed its back to it, knowing it had no place to go with her and Snowy approaching it from both sides unless it wanted to plunge its self into the water.  
“It’s okay! You're going to be okay! I'm not going to hurt you.” she said softly, as her flashlight made the Fabeast completely visible.  
Lillie nearly dropped the flashlight in shock.  
“Oh my! You poor thing!” she cried, looking over the extent of the wounds.  
The creature looked a lot worse than the last time she had seen it a few weeks ago.  
There were a lot more deep open cuts, burns, bite marks, scratches, and even some older bruises which she must have missed before littering its body.  
Some of the injuries even looked infected and inflamed.  
There were quite a few nicks and tares in the Fabeasts ears and a few dozen sharp rocks were burrowed in its scales.  
Instead of white, Its mane and even the fur around its claws was now a dark red, the creature was also visibly staying off its left leg, the same one it had only been limping on earlier and worst of all, instead of having all six of its strange stingers the Fabeast only had five now.  
One of them had been torn off, or most of it anyways as what was left of the stinger was in grotesque ribbons, a strange light blue liquid dripping from it that was obvious toxic as is sizzled the stone as when it dripped to the floor.  
Its remanding stingers didn’t look good either, the others being bent in odd directions or having pieces missing, blue liquid dripping out of those wounds as well.  
Near its claws, Lillie could see the same mug she had seen from before, although now it had more missing pieces and cracks.  
Had it been carrying that mug everywhere with it?  
It must be really important to it then, to not even leave it behind when the kahunas were chasing after it.  
“Vulpix,” her pokemon said with a wince.  
The Ultra Beast stared at Lillie, a very frightened look in its eyes.  
“The kahuna's really hurt you didn’t they?” Lillie asked it, lowering herself to a squat.  
The Ultra Beast opened its muzzle and shrieked fearfully at her and pushed itself self even closer to the boulder, taking its green mug with it.  
“I'm not on the search team, I promise! I think you just hurt all those people because you were just scared, right? You don’t know where you are or what anything is, and you were really frightened and hurt. I can make that pain go away if you just trust me”  
The Fabeast whined and cocked its head ever so slightly at her, it still looked completely terrified, but there was a glint of understanding in its eyes that surprised her.  
This was… extremely odd.  
This was an Ultra Beast, English couldn’t have been a thing in its would know.  
She only said those things hoping her tone might calm it down.  
While the girl was relieved it understood her words it also scared her in a way.  
According to the professors and Moon, none of the other Ultra Beasts understood the language.  
Lillie didn’t think about this too much though, right now there were more important things she needed to worry about.  
“Here! You can have a bean! I hope you like it.” The blond girl said placing the bean she was holding closer to the creature than taking a few large steps back.  
“Vulpix Vulpix Vol” Snowy whined to it softly, like it was trying to reassure the creature, watching it from a safe distance.  
The Fabeast eyed the food then looked back to her, even from where she was, she could hear it’s stomach growl.  
“Go on… you can have it, I'm way over here, so I’m not going to attack you.”  
It starred between her and the bean for long enough for Lillie's legs to start aching.  
Both staying like that until eventually, hunger must have won it over as the Ultra Beast cast a worried look at its mug and moved an inch forward to the food.  
Than another inch and another, and another eyeing her fearfully as it did so until it snatched the bean up in its beak-like muzzle and quickly scrambled back where it came from, sitting down on its back legs and placing the bean down on the floor then to Lillie’s surprize sniffed it carefully and made a slight face before clumsily picking it up in its talons and devoured it with one large bite.  
Lillie decided against commenting on this and instead pulled another bean out of her bag and set it a little closer to her.  
It took a little longer, but eventually like the last time the Fabeast took the bean in its mouth, retreated and ate it with its claws.  
Again, Lillie pulled out yet another bean and put it even closer to her.  
The girl did this a handful of times with the Ultra Beast becoming gradually less wary to approach her and slower to flee to the safety of its boulder.  
With every bean, she placed getting closer and closer to Lillie until she pulled out a colorful rainbow bean and held it out to the Ultra Beast.  
The Fabest stiffened, but shuffled its way over to her on three legs, not looking away from the girl as it slowly took the bean from her hand, not even going the full way to its boulder as it sat down and munched on it.  
A long forked tongue came out of its mouth as it licked its muzzle which was covered in dry blood, whimpering as it eyed her bag.  
“Oh? Do you like the rainbow ones? Professor Kukui said that most Pokémon really like them-”  
“Vol!” snowy agreed.  
“I have a few more. Do you want them?”  
The creature just stared at her and whined again, its eyes drifting to the bag then back to her.  
“Umm okay you can have them then,” she told it, taking the remaining beans out of her bag and planting them right in front of her.  
Stumbling a little on only three legs it walked back over to her and this time didn't take the food and run but lied down and started to eat the beans.  
The poor thing looked exhausted.  
“See? I'm not going to hurt you,” she said softly and slowly moved a hand toward it.  
“I’m going to touch you now okay? Then I can heal you, you just have to let me-”  
The Ultra Beast flinched as if it expected to be hit. letting out a soft cry as it curled up and put its claws over its head.  
Lillies' heart clenched, “It’s okay, It’s okay, you’re okay... I won’t hit you I promise. You’re such a good Ultra Beast aren't you?”  
She said calmly to the creature, her hand making contact with the creatures mane which was surprisingly soft for being coated in blood and started to pet it as gently as possible.  
Running her hand down its messy fur.  
She could feel the Fabeast muscles twitch under its fur as it cringed, but didn't pull away.  
This was probably the most positive touch it had been given in a while…  
“Vol?” Snowy barked after a few minutes of this, slowly approaching the two.  
The Ultra Beasts eyes widened as it immediately scooted more to Lillie, giving her a desperate look, figuring she was now the lesser of the two evils.  
“It’s okay Fabeast, Snowy is really nice! She’s not going to hurt you either, I promise.”  
The girl reached forward and pulled the Vulpix closer to her causing the Ultra Beast to push its body against her, nearly hiding behind her now.  
Snowy barked happily, her fluffy tails wagging in cheerfully.  
The scaley beast stared at the ice type and sniffed softly.  
Snowy's nose twitched and she sneezed a little on the Beast causing it to shake its mane a little in surprise.  
Lillie smiled at the two and rummaged through her bag for the abundance of healing items she always kept in there.  
“Okay, I'm going to heal you now, I'm sorry if it stings a lot, I’ll try my best to be careful.”  
The creature cocked its head at her looking her directly in the eyes and with a wince, it stretched out its battered body and splayed out all its limbs giving her a good view of its wounds as she pulled out a roll of gauze, disinfecting alcohol, and a few super potions.  
Lillie stared at it for a moment, this was very odd of it…  
It was clear the creature somewhat understood what she was trying to do, was it because of the Foundation?  
Had they been able to at least somewhat train an Ultra Beast?  
Was why it understood English? Lille put these thoughts away for now as she washed out the infected cuts and applied what little disinfectant she had brought and carefully pulled out the rocks in its scales, cringeing as it yelped and cried out it pain flinching and wincing, but never attempting to bite her with those large fangs or run off like she had been afraid it might.  
Lillie gently pat it whenever her hand was free being careful not to get her hand anywhere near its stingers and told it the most comforting things she could think of and that it was okay as Snowy went back over to the boulder and dragged the creatures mug over to it. The Fabeast whined and grateful accepted the mug, by leaning its head against it. Looking closer some of the wounds looked a lot older than they should rightfully be, a majority of them looked like they came from some sort of beaked Pokémon or a Serviper, as well as long scratches on his face and other parts of its body as if another pokemon tried to tear its scales off for some horrible reason.  
Lillie felt Ill, they must have been using it to fight.. or just going way overboard to restrain it if it missed behaved like Gladion told them they did with Silvally.  
After all the rocks were off to the side, she delicately inspected the leg it had been staying off of.  
From what she could tell it was differently twisted.  
The girl frowned, she didn’t have any ice on her.  
She couldn't do anything for the leg right now or for its stingers, the skin on her hands would probably burn off if she tried, that and it was strange looking, most poison types had purple poison she had only seen blue on the Nihlilego...  
She was going to have to leave the poor thing… and come back most likely tomorrow as she had told the two professors she would be back in a couple of hours and thinking about it, more than that had probably passed already.  
The girl then gently wrapped the many wounds in gaze feeling sick when she noticed the long surgical scar that went all the way down from the top of its stomach to the end of its abdomen.  
Lillie silently wounded if the obvious surgery was necessary or not and why did they even do surgery the Beast in the first place, was it just to see what was inside?  
Without thinking about it more she put the healing items back up and pat the Ultra Beast a few times before getting to her feet.  
“I’m sorry, but I have to go now Fabeast, but I’ll be back as soon as I can tomorrow, alright!?”  
The beast whimpered, looking distressed that the first person who was showing it kindness was leaving it all alone so soon, shifting uncomfortably on the sharp stone looking down to the ground now refusing to make eye contact.  
The girl gave the creature a concerned look and pulled a towel out of her bag that she had brought in case Snowy had gotten wet and motioned for the creature to sit on it, taken back once again when the Fabeast pulled it over its body like a blanket.  
“Vulpix! Pix!” Snowy barked softly and licked the side of the Ultra Beast face in goodbye.  
“Really I will! And I’ll bring you lots of yummy food and some blankets and a pillow to prop your poor leg up on and some soap to clean you up more!”  
The Fabeast gurgled and looked down at its filthy mane than back up to her.  
Lillie was surprised with it once again, It really did understand so much English.  
“Umm, yes I’ll clean your mane..”  
Lillie then walked over to the broken mug that lay by the beast and pointed at it.  
The Fabeast gave it a sad look. “I know this mug means a lot to you. I want to fix it for you. Are you ok with that?” The Fabeast simply gave her a whimper and nudged the mug towards her.  
The creature then shuttered and curled its legs the best it could under the towel, whimpering some more. The poor thing was still in obvious pain. She would have to try getting some kind of pain relief for it.  
Lillie put the broken parts of the mug in her bag and pat it on the head and finally begin walking to the entrance of the cave feeling guilty at leaving the beast all alone when it was in so much pain and the fact she was taking its precious mug which was clearly its only real source of comfort.  
“Bye Fabeast! I’ll be back as soon as I can and fix up your stingers! Just don’t leave the cave please!”  
The Ultra Beast didn’t look away from her once as she backed away out of its sight, the creatures sad eyes felt like they were drilling a hole in her soul especially as she got further away from it.  
The Fabeast’s whines getting louder and louder the farther she went.  
“Vol?” Snowy whined as she squeezed out of the hole casting a last glance behind her.  
“I’m sure It’ll be fine until we get back…” she told the ice type as she trudged through the flowers.  
Snowy treading behind her hopping above the petals the Alola moon now much higher in the sky.  
“I’m almost positive It understood me when I told it to stay and I doubt anyone will find it. The Fabeast isn't even screaming anymore, unless… unless they follow the same trail as we did.” The blonde girl trailed off looking nervously to the hole again.  
“It’ll be fine,” she said again, “We’ll come to see it first thing in the morning, but I think we should definitely get rid of the flowers that have blood on them, just in case.”  
“Vol!” Snowy nodded and obediently started digging up any flowers that had even a drop of blood on them.  
Lillie got to work helping her Pokémon, hoping that the creature wouldn’t scream at all while she was away, trying her hardest not to think about those blue eyes of it, and the eerie human emotion that flashed in them.  
She remembered how human the eyes looked on their first encounter and now that she was up close with the Beast the human resemblance became even more apparent.  
It disturbed her more than she would like to admit, especially about the way how it ate with all its claws or put its talons in front of its face.  
The actions were so human, too human…  
Not even Pokémon did those things all too much.  
The beast even understood English!  
That alone was a strange sign...  
She shuddered and pulled up another flower from the earth.  
This poor creature, just like she had felt as she had run off with Nebby.  
She felt an itch to protect it, to keep the poor thing from any more harm.  
This wasn’t just another mindless Ultra Beast whose thoughts was only set to hunt and run, but a very intelligent, and terrified creature.  
It really was just like Nebby in a way.  
“I..” she turned to her Pokémon, now suddenly not wanting to continue to call the creature a name given to it by people that had definitely hurt it.  
“I think we should call it Emerald from now on, what do you think Snowy?” she asked thinking back on all the different shades of green that went down the creatures back.  
“Pix” Snowy barked happily, now starting to dig a small hole to put the flowers she had dug up in it.  
Lillie smiled at the vulpix. She had always felt an emptiness after Moon had left Alola with Nebby and now maybe she could fill it again by protecting the Ultra Beast!  
She was going to try and get the creature back to its rightful home, if she didn’t no one would and it would either end up being killed or taken back to Aether.  
Lillie was honestly unsure which would be worse.  
The blond remembered how Kukui said he’d look for the beast, but unlike early, now she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to find it.  
Since she was keeping it form the Paradice, she really didn't want him or Burnet being unfairly roped up with them again, once had been more than enough she wasn't going to put them through that again.  
“Don’t worry Emerald!” She whispered to herself, “I'm going to protect you no matter what!”  
When the blonde girl finished picking the last remaining blood stained flower petals and barred them in a hole and covered it in dirt. Satisfied with their work Lillie and Snowy then continued their way back home to Kukui’s getting rid of a few blood smears on the rocks on the way.  
A new mission now very apparent to her.  
To protect Emerald at all cost, just like she had with Nebby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No! Faba no! You must not eat the beans! That's fucking cannibalism!!
> 
> (Another PS: Sooo I drew a shity picture of UB Faba or Emerald as Lillie calls him and I'm not exactly proud of it, but If anyone comments saying they want me to, I'll include it in the next chapter, because you guys are amazing and you deserve it.)


	16. Surprising Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lillie spends most of the day with Emerald.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I say my usual hellos, I would just like to say I'm super sorry for the delay in this chapter.  
> For one its the longest one I've written so far and was really unsatisfied with it so I re-wrote it a bunch of times, school is also being a real thorn in my ass and I got a little confused with how to get the images on this chapter, but I worked it out don't worry and for your very patient waiting in my free time I randomly drew another decent thing of Faba in his UB form from the last chapter, so he looks all fucked up! I'm no real artist, I only draw on extremely rare occasions, but I hope you like my drawings even if I did get the collaring and a few details slightly wrong!  
> Also, the next chapter is going to be a slight time skip, just a heads up, anyways Like usual, I really hope you enjoy the actual story part of this chapter and as always, I apologize for any spelling errors or wrong sentence structure.

Lillie’s hands gripped the straps on her bag as she jogged down route two with Snowy by her side.  
The girl had slept a lot longer then she had meant to as she had been up extremely late, and was starting to worry that Emerald might have gotten anxious waiting for her and had possibly run off.  
She was positive the creature understood a majority of what she said when she told it to stay, but was unsure if it really would or not, even if it was hurt and scared, from what she had heard Emerald it didn't like to stay in one place for long.  
“I hope Emerald isn’t upset that we left it alone for so long,” she said softly to her Pokémon, “We told it we would be back soon, but it’s already late in the afternoon!”  
“Vulpix,” Snowy whined looking in the direction of the cave.  
“Well, even if it's upset hopefully giving it a nice wash and yummy food will make it feel better!”  
“Vul!” Snowy nodded, then her ears perked up and turned her head near the Pokémon center.  
“Snowy-”  
“Young master!” Lillie felt her stomach sink at the title.  
“Hello…” Lillie greeted as three Aether grunts walked up to her from the hotel with forced smiles on their faces.  
“Is there something you want? I was about to go do some training.”  
“Yes young master, we have been asking around and we want to know if you’ve happened to see your mother's new ultra beast? We know you saw it just recently. Have you seen it since then? We really need to find the poor thing before the Kahunas do.” A short male grunt with big blue eyes asked.  
“No, I'm sorry, but I haven’t seen it since that day.”  
Disappointment flashed across all their faces, “You're sure? Nothing at all?”  
“I haven’t seen it,” Lillie told him firmly, “But If I do I’ll come and find you I promise.”  
The male grunt sighed as his shoulders slumped, “Thanks… come on Rose, Franklin. I guess we can ask around the town again. Maybe we’ll find someone we haven't talked to yet. Bye, young master. I hope you have a better day then we're having.”  
The other male with curly red hair huffed as he grumbled something about them being out here all day to the girl Lillie assumed was Rose.  
Snowy’s ears perked up, “Vul!” She exclaimed as Rose walked over to her as Franklin and the blue-eyed man left, “May I pet your Vulpix? She’s so cute!” Rose asked with a glitter in her eye.  
“Of.. course,” Lillie responded hesitantly as Rose moved her hand and gently pat Snowy on the head.  
“Hey, Rose! Are you coming or not!?” Lillie heard one of the employees shout.  
Rose smiled genuinely at them, “I have to go now. I hope you and your Vulpix stay safe!” With that, the girl turned and headed off to her coworkers.  
“Thank you... You three stay safe too.” Lillie muttered watching the three walk in the opposite direction of where her and Snowy were headed, eventually disappearing from their view.  
The girl let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in, of all people to run into it had to be members of the foundations.  
“Vulpix Vull Vul…” Snowy barked worriedly, not looking away from the direction the grunts went.  
“It’s okay Snowy, I think they believed us.”  
“Pix” the Vulpix sniffed.  
“Now then… let's go see Emerald. Poor thing is probably starving by now.”  
The ice type barked in acknowledgment and the two finished their walk through the route.  
Lillie double checked to make sure the three employees really hadn't followed them before entering Melemele Meadow then squeezed through the hole to the massive cave.  
Emerald? Er… Fabeast? It’s me, Lillie! I’m back to help you! I’m sorry I didn't come sooner! I overslept.”  
The girl pulled the flashlight out of her bag and began to follow the same trail she took last time.  
Sure enough in the same spot was the Ultra Beast, squatted by the pool of water like it had been taking a drink, it’s head already turned in her direction staring at her with its bright blue eyes.  
It flinched slightly when she shined the light into its eyes, but its tail waged ever so slightly at the sight of her.  
“Oh! Sorry!” She said, putting the light on the floor in a way it would light up a good portion of the cave and sat on the ground next to the creature with Snowy barking around it in greeting.  
“I umm was wondering if you would like to be called Emerald from now on instead of Fabeast, would you like that?”  
Emerald just made a soft gurgling noise as Snowy nodded her head enthusiastically at it and barked a few times.  
“I’ll take that as a yes, I guess.” the girl told it as she started to take some soap, a towel, and poison type resistant gloves out of her bag. Along with a few handfuls of different berries and beans she had been sure to dose with small amounts of pain relief that she put on the ground in front of Emerald.  
The creature scooted hesitantly closer to them, “It's okay. I didn’t hurt you yesterday right? So I’m not going to hurt you today. Look! some of the food I have is ally different flavors, then I’ll know what one you like the most and bring you more tomorrow!”  
Emerald sniffed the food then picked all the berries Lille knew to be mildly spicy out of the pile and off to the side the creature then picked up the food it hadn’t put off to the side and started to eat them as Snowy happily nibbled at what it placed to the side.  
That was odd, Emerald was an Ultra beast... If it just didn’t like spicy food, how did it know those particular berries were all spicy?  
Being extra careful, Lillie put on the gloves and removed the bandages she had put on yesterday that were already soaked in blood then grabbed a cup from her bag, scooping up water from the pool next to her and gently poured it on the creatures back.  
Emerald shuttered softly but didn’t pull away as Lillie continued to pour a few cup fulls on it.  
Next, pulling out a small bottle of soap along with a washcloth and started to thoroughly clean the fur around its neck and claws, making sure to be extra careful around the wounds and stingers were some of the poison was dripping.  
She also made sure to clean the beasts large bat ears scrubbing both the outside and inside, causing them to twitch slightly.  
It was after she told it to stand a little and rinsed its fur it a third time that she noticed something alarming beneath the fluff on its neck.  
Lillie's eyebrows furrowed with a glint on curiosity growing in her eyes, there were about a dozen or more puncture wounds on the beast's neck, two of them were right next to each other and looked a lot like a half-healed burns.  
It took Lillie a few moments for her to realize what they were, but the burns looked like something you would get from an electric shock.  
Her eyes widened in horror, had they put some kind of shock color on it?!  
She knew her mother had most definitely hurt the creature, or at the very least let some of the employees do so, but deep down she had hoped so bad that she was wrong or that her mother just hadn't known about any of the abuse, that even though her mother refused to let her visit in the hospital when she was lucid or the Foundations for that matter that she really was trying to change to be a better person.  
It was obvious now her mother hadn't changed at all… and that thought hurt Lillie more than anything.  
Lillie swallowed, she should have tried harder to help her mess of a mother and tried harder to get through to her and now she had gone and hurt another poor creature who didn't deserve it.  
“Oh Emerald,” she whispered, looking to another puncture wound that looked like some kind of odd needle mark, that was in the shape of a diamond, more needle marks that looked like that had come from a more legit needle surrounded the mark, that were slightly smaller.  
The girl didn’t find the needle marks near disturbing as the burns, but when Snowy spotted the diamond-shaped one and sniffed it, the vulpix recoiled with a growl and pawed at her nose as if there was something extremely wrong with that ever was injected into the mark.  
Lillie was about to question why the Pokémon did this when Emerald whined and glanced longingly at its bolder, then back to her.  
“I-It’s okay I'm almost done, just hold still for me a little longer alright?”  
The creature just whined again as Lillie washed out Emerald's fur with more soap and scrubbed over all the creature's scales with the washcloth a few more times for good measure until all the blood, and dirt was washed away.  
Snowy dragged the clean towel Lillie had brought over to her in which the girl gently dried the creature.  
“There!” she exclaimed, shoving the now empty shampoo bottle, cups, and the towel back in her bag and pulled out fresh bandages and more disinfectant.  
She smiled at it and ran her hand down the ultra beast’s now extremely soft fur even with all the bruises and burns and cuts Emerald was very pretty.  
Now that the creature was clean all of its green scales gleamed brightly even in the darkness, and its mane felt soft like a new pokedoll.  
The fluff by its claws and mane was now a pure white, except a strange tuft of fur on its chin that was blond.  
All the different shades of green, from the light green scales on his head that slowly darkened down its body to the dark shade of green on his tail with speckles of white and gold scales on its back shined brightly.  
Not to mention the dark green, leaf-shaped scales that stood out from the others, Emerald was gorgeous.  
It even took away from its monstrous appearance.  
The combination of his claws, sharp fangs and stingers with the pretty fur and scales made the creature seem like an odd mix of beauty and something born from the depths of the most twisted nightmares any child would have after watching a horror movie for the first time.  
Lillie could now understand in a way why her mother was so desperate to get this ultra beast back, In particular.  
Emerald on the outside at least seemed to parallel the foundation in a way and even her mother to an extent.  
While Lillie knew how monstrous her mother was in some cases she still felt there was good in her and that’s something she wasn’t going to give up on.  
Emerald was quite literally a decoration to her mother and a very priceless, beautiful one at that.  
“All done!” she continued, “See Emerald! Look how pretty and clean you are now!” she exclaimed Snowy barking in agreement as Lillie pointed down at the water.  
Everything went to hell from there.  
Emerald cocked its head and very slowly looked into the water.  
Lillie could see the creature’s reflection eyes widen in what looked like horror and it stood there with that unsettling expression on its face, beak halfway open, ears flattened to its head.  
Its pupils dilated even more than they already were and the creature opened its muzzle all the way and let out the most gut-churning scream that Lillie had ever heard.  
Lillie and Snowy jumped away from the ultra beast, both equally as terrified as Emerald lunged forward toward the water and slammed its front claws into the pool, nearly falling all the way in as it did so.  
It did this again, and again, and again, until realizing it couldn’t destroy its reflection the creature scrambled away from the water continuing to scream as it began to bite and scratch its self, clawing away some of its scales and drawing blood.  
“E..Emerald no! Please don’t hurt yourself!” Lillie yelled, her frantic tone causing the ultra beast to flinch away from her and shake its head repetitively.  
She would have tried to stop the creature, but she was too afraid of the ultra beast accidentally scratching her.  
With those claws, It could cause some real damage.  
“Vulpix! Vulpix! Vulpix Vul!” Snowy yelped, her ears flattening trying to meat the creature's eyes to calm it down.  
Alas, it worked to no avail, as Emerald only got louder making a strange growling sound between its screams and its clawing only getting more frantic.  
Snowy whined in a way that sounded like her pleading with the beast her wines getting more desperate by the second as the Beats attacks on itself only got more violent.  
“H-Hey! Shh shh, It’s okay, it's okay. Calm down please!” The girl urged in a softer tone, desperate to get the poor thing quiet.  
Lillie had never seen any creature do anything like this before.  
What kind of beast attacks itself upon seeing its reflection?!  
The very sight she now saw before her scared her more than anything.  
Emerald didn’t listen to both Lillie’s and Snowy’s pleas, the beast withered on the floor shrieking, causing Lillie to move back more. When it's thrashing got closer to her, Snowy barking in alarm as the creature knocked over her bag, resulting in a pokedoll she had brought and a pillow falling out and also sending a pamphlet she didn’t remember bringing fluttering out of the pillowcase.  
“Oh no…” she said out loud as the pamphlet landed and opened beside the creature.  
That brochure wasn't just any brochure, but an older one to Aether Paradise.  
The only reason why she had it was that she hadn’t taken any photos of her mother with her when she had run away, so instead she settled on looking at the picture of her mother in the pamphlet whenever she found herself missing her.  
She hadn’t looked at it in so long, she had forgotten it was even in there.  
If poor Emerald saw it… It would panic even more!  
“Snowy quick grab it! Grab the brochure before Emerald sees!” she called out rushing back to her bag, hoping maybe some food would calm the creature down.  
“Vul?”  
Lillie passed in her grasp for the bag, suddenly realizing that Emerald had stopped screaming.  
Turning her head to the ultra beast, Emerald had calmed down almost entirely, it had stopped thrashing and hurting itself seemingly instantly and now was looking down intently at the brochure.  
It didn’t look scared and aggravated at all, but instead, it not only appearing a little confused, looked calm.  
Lillie slowly went back over to the ultra beast, Emerald wasn’t just looking at the pamphlet as a whole though, it was looking at a very specific part of the brochure.  
The part with Faba and Wicke on it. The image showed the two standing at the entrance to Aether Paradise. Faba had a smug smile on his face as he folded his arms in a proudful gesture while Wicke simply smiled at the camera having both of her arms down at her sides.  
At the bottom it simply read; “Faba Marvin Lentil: Branch Chief of the Aether Foundation” and, “Wicke Stacy Violet: Assistant Branch Chief.”  
Emerald cocked its head, putting its claws on their faces before looking up to her with a whine. The very human emotion of recognition flashing in its eyes.  
The creature looked especially sad and distressed when it looked back down at Faba in particular, but didn’t appear to be frightened of the man.  
That was strange… Lillie would have thought it would have been completely terrified of him.  
He had hurt Nebby, hurt Type: Null and all the other ultra beast from doing all those horrible experiments on them.  
Why did Emerald calm down at his face, when Faba had most likely been the person to cut it open? Maybe even kick it?  
Wicke, however, was entirely another story.  
She knew the woman was fired long before the new ultra beast had apparently arrived.  
Not that she entirely trusted that story by this point, but she had been in close contact with the woman ever since she was fired and trusted that she would at least mention the ultra beast to her.  
There was little to no chance the creature would even catch a whisper of the woman's name let alone recognize a photo with her in it.  
Emerald made an odd whimpering, hissing sound that directed her full attention back to the ultra beast who stared at her, glanced down at the pamphlet taped its claws a few times on the photo then looked back up to Lillie again.  
“Vulpix Vulpix.” Snowy barked sounding confused as Lillie sat down next to Emerald and looked at the brochure with it.  
The ultra beast let out another hiss-whine and taped at the pamphlet then looked up to her.  
“O..Oh!” Lillie exclaimed, finally understanding what the creature wanted her to do, although extremely unsettled by its human-like actions, as usual, unable just to shake off how human the beast acted.  
“Umm… that's Branch Chief Faba” she said pointing to the extremely smug-looking blond whos head was raised high in immense pride, “And that's Assistant Branch Chief Wicke, or she was until she got fired.”  
Emerald's head whipped back to her at both their names whimpering ever louder as it pushed its maw against Faba’s face, the poor beast acted as if it missed the man in some way.  
“Umm, ya that's Mr. Faba… he didn’t hurt you, did he?”  
The ultra beast’s head again swung toward her at the name, staring intently at her. Its eyes flashing with recognition once again.  
Lillie dropped the subject and instead grabbed the healing equipment where she had put it down.  
“You can keep looking at that if you want Emerald, just hold still again.”  
Emerald just sniffed in reply as it’s tail being to wag slightly as It’s gaze switched more to Wicke's picture.  
“Vulpix?” Snowy whimpered, nuzzling the creature's side and looking down to the water in confusion.  
“I don’t know Snowy, I guess Emerald just really hates its reflection…” Lillie mumbled, carefully dressing the old and brand new wounds.  
Her eyes widened when doing so, the older bites and scratches she had thought came from another Pokémon looked exactly the same as the marks he had given himself.  
Emerald had done this to himself in the past, this wasn't the first time.  
Lillie frowned, she had only hung around for the creature for less than a day and a half and she was already overwhelmed with questions about this strange ultra beast, at least with Nebby she already knew a handful of things about it.  
Maybe had it mistaken its reflection for another one of its kind?  
No… that didn’t explain why it had hurt itself.  
“I’m sorry I told you to look at yourself Emerald, I didn’t know you don’t like your reflection.” She said softly as she bandaged the creature's wounds including its stingers in which she used entirely different bandages used especially for poison types.  
“You really shouldn't though, I think your scales are really pretty. You shouldn't try to rip them out.”  
“Vulpix!” Snowy agreed, nuzzling the creature some more.  
“Anyways..” she started after she finally finished bandaging the ultra beast pulling out some blankets and pillows and dragging them closer to where the towel she lead it yesterday was. “I brought you some blankets and a few pillows so I can elevate your leg, those rocks can’t exactly be too soft.”  
Emerald glanced back expectantly for a moment then cocked its head.  
“Oh, umm your mug? I'm really sorry, but it's going to take me longer to fix it than I thought. Until then, I thought you might like this to keep you company.” the girl said, then showing the beast the Pokédoll’s she had brought with her that didn’t mind lending it to the ultra beast.  
Emeralds tail thumped on the ground when it saw the Hypno plush, getting quickly to its claws and limping on three legs to the plush with Snowy pushing up against it in an attempt to help it walk.  
The girl smothered out the towel and allowed the creature to flop down on it and carefully take the doll with its claws, and nuzzled the toys fur, Emerald's tail still wagging as it made strange almost purr like noises as it stretched out its hurt leg and allowed Lille to gently place it on top of the pillow.  
Lillie gently put the blanket over it and turned away from the creature to pick up the brochure. While the creature was distracted with the Hypno, she ripped the part out of the pamphlet with her mother on it.  
Hesitating before ripping it up into multiple pieces and shoving it into her pocket.  
“Here Emerald you want this too right?” she asked, putting it in front of the creature.  
The ultra beast stared at the brochure for a moment, before tapping the place the rip was and looked up to her accusingly now and even a little hurt and huffed angrily.  
“Vulpix Vul!” Snowy soothed, putting a paw on one of Emerald's claws as Lillie flinched at its look.  
She didn't think it would notice and continued to be entranced in only the pictures of Wicke and Faba.  
Lillie knew it was smart of course but didn’t know it was this observant.  
“Sorry, I-I should have asked first. Umm, there was a lady there. She... I know she hurt you. I just didn’t want it scaring you.”  
Emerald cocked its head and gurgled, seemingly satisfied with the answer as it nuzzled the toy again and went back to staring at the two.  
Lillie pat both the creature's ears and sat down beside Emerald, “I think I'm going to bring some books tomorrow to!”  
Lillie blabbered to it as she took her lunch… err well now her dinner, out of her bag along with some Pokémon food that she poured into two separate portable bowls and placed one next to Snowy and the other in front of Emerald.  
“I brought you some Pokémon food too, Kukui said it's the best!”  
The creature huffed and turned away from the food with a few shakes of its head then turned its muzzle a little into the air before it flinched and looked to Lillie nervously.  
“Not a fan of Pokémon food then? It’s okay, I'm not going to hurt you if you don’t want it.”  
Emerald relaxed and pushed the bowl to Snowy with its claws who barked her thanks as Emerald stared down at her sandwich she had brought and cocked its head.  
“This? This is a sandwich, Emerald. You want some?” Lillie asked, tearing a large chunk off and holding it out to the ultra beast.  
Emerald sniffed the food, eyes lighting up and opened its maw like it was about to devour it when the creature paused its head cocking once again.  
“Umm, what is it Emerald do you not want it?”  
The creature looked puzzledly down at its front claws.  
She could see its claws curl up slightly, raising one of its claws in a strange angle as if to pick it up, but paused and lowered it back to the ground with a whine.  
“I don’t think you're going to be able to pick it up like that.” Lillie pointed out to it softly.  
Emerald whined again and shook its head softly before taking in its mouth and gobbling it down with a single bite.  
The creature’s ears twitched and it made a face similar to the one it made at the Pokémon food.  
“Oh, do you not like it-” she started only for the creature to pull the remainder of the sandwich out of her grasp and put it on the floor.  
“Hey, Emerald no! You… ” she trailed off watching in awe as the creature picked the pieces of bread off the top, picked off the tomatoes then put the bred back on.  
Even Snowy was looking at the creature like it just grew a second tail as it nudged the sandwich back over to Lillie with a proud look on its face like it had been doing Lillie a favor.  
Any scolding Lillie might have told it died before it came out.  
“N-No, no thank you. I actually like tomatoes that's why they’re on there, and besides, you got your slobber all over it! And you dropped it on the ground!”  
Emerald gave her a strange look and pawed at the towel.  
Lillie frowned at it, “The towel… Emerald, It might be on the towel, but you still got your slobber all over it!”  
Emerald whined softly and even rubbed the now soggy sandwich on the towel then nudged it back over to her.  
Lillie’s lips twitched into a small smile, now a little amused, “No, no, it's okay. I don’t want it anymore you can have it.”  
Emerald’s ears dropped and it made an odd hissing noise followed by a strangled series of growling.  
“Go on you can have it.” she urged as Snowy licked her lips having finished all the food.  
The creature's tail flicked to the side before its jaws closed around the top and bottom of the sandwich then bite down swallowed one piece, and took another bite.  
As the creature ate in its bizarre way Lillie’s eyes drifted all the way to the entrance of the cave where the light that once shone through it was long gone.  
She sighed and looked sadly at Emerald, “I'm sorry Emerald, but I think me and Snowy have to go now, It’s getting pretty late”  
Instantly Emerald’s head shot up and it made more of those hissing-growling sounds, desperately scooting the remainder of the food to her as it struggled to rise on its legs.  
“No sit-down, please! You have to rest that poor leg or it’ll never get better! Don’t worry, it’s not because of the sandwich, It’s getting late like I said. I’ll come back tomorrow, earlier this time!”  
“Vul Vul.” Snowy barked, patting the towel to urge to the creature to lie back down.  
Emerald whimpered a little more, but sat back to the floor and stared at the ground.  
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to it and hesitantly gave the create a small hug, being careful not to make it too tight or touch any of the stingers.  
The creature seemed surprised but relaxed slightly in her arms.  
The girl let go and smiled at it, “I’ll be back tomorrow, but you can keep the pamphlet, but only if you don’t mess with your bandages and rest your leg, alright?”  
Emerald sniffed and went back to lying down. Staring at Wicke and Faba, the pokedoll close by its maw.  
The girl gave it's head one last pat and put everything back in her bag, “Bye Emerald see you tomorrow!”  
“Vulll!” Snowy, cried licking its face and brought the now much dimmer flashlight over to Lillie, who took it from her mouth.  
The creature watched them leave, still looking sad and upset, the muscles in its legs twitching slightly like it was fighting the urge to follow them.  
Lillie wanted to do nothing more than run back and comfort it as she and Snowy made their way out of the hole and into the meadow with Emerald whining like the last time.  
“Come on Snowy, let's go home. I think Emeralds going to be fine now.”  
Snowy barked softly and dashed off in the direction of the exit.  
Lillie followed closely behind and no matter how hard she tried all of Emerald's way to human-like actions played on repeat in her head.  
They were all very peculiar, to say the least, and those actions combined with those all too human eyes made a ripple of unease run through her.  
There was something extremely off about this ultra beast…  
Its demeanor was strange… even the way it moved around and struggled and hissed was slightly off and wrong.  
The way in screeched in terror at its reflection and the way it attacked itself was so off-putting.  
No normal beast, creature, Pokémon, whatever lived out there would do such a thing to itself.  
Was it's human actions just because it was from a different world and that's just how they acted?  
Possibly, but that didn’t explain why it freaked out so badly when it had seen itself, or most of the things she had seen it do for that matter.  
Something was wrong with poor Emerald and for some reason Lillie found herself becoming worried to find out why this was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Faba, don't be so damn picky and eat the fucking tomatoes you stupid bitch, you think being beaten by everyone in the foundations for mounts of end your teach you from being so picky.
> 
> (PS I messed up a little on the drawling and forgot to add white scales on Fabas back and the scars on his face, as well as the poison, was supposed to be electric blue, but I tragically didn't have that color in my colored pencil box, so again sorry for it not looking any better. Also, this probably isn't important, but I just really felt like talking about it; I got most the inspiration for Faba's UB form from bits and pieces of different random monsters people had made online and even some pokemon than just kinda combined them together and added a few things my self. Originally I was even going to give him wings, but my friend pointed out that the others in the foundation would be too fearful of him learning how to fly and just well... fly away. I was also going to give him some antenna and a head crest similar to Silvallys but also thought otherwise. I'm proud of the design I have for him now though and really want to give him a head pat!)


	17. Three Of Diamonds, Three Of Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Emerald learns how to human more and Lillie has a nice lunch with Kukui, Burnet and a guest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *banging pots and pans together*  
> I WOULD JUST LIKE TO GIVE A REALLY BIG THANK YOU TO NENE WHO MADE SOME FABULOUS ASS ART OF NONE OTHER THAN THE BEAN BEAST LAST CHAPTER AND IT'S AMAZING AND I APREASTE THEM ALOT FOR MAKING, SO THANK YOU EVEN IF I ALREADY THANKED YOU ONCE IM DOING IT AGAIN!!  
> *puts pots and pans up where they belong*  
> Hellos! Hellos! My wonderful peps!  
> I have a somewhat early chapter for you all in apology for the last one taking me forever to update.  
> Like the last one it's really long too, so have fun with all that shit!  
> The next chapter will sadly be a lot shorter than the other, but only because the next one is going to be pretty long and I didn't want to cram an extra sene into it especially since the chapter will also have a good amount of actual action in it and we will see a familiar face I think most of you will be happy to see!  
> Or at least in the later segments, you will.  
> Anyhow enough with my blabber, I really hope you all enjoy this chapter and like usually I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes you might end up seeing!

“Emerald I’m back again!” Lillie called into the cave.  
It had been a little more than a week since she had first discovered the creature and the more time she spent with it, the more of it’s strange behavior she picked up on.  
As well as sleeping under the covers in an odd human-like fashion, it also liked to put his head on the pillow instead of resting its hurt leg on it like she told it to time after time.  
When she had read it, it even seemed to somewhat understand the plot.  
It had even made a strange scoffing noise when one of the characters had done something stupid and appeared to be extremely immersed in the book and when she was getting close to the climax she noticed it got upset when she called it a night and stopped reading to go home.  
Things only got more bizarre when she came back in the morning to find it squinting in the dark, reading the book, or at least it looked like it was reading the book as it was open and the creature was flipping through the pages.  
On a lesser note, It wouldn’t fetch the Pokémon toys she would bring and throw for it.  
Even giving her an offended look when she did so but was okay with rolling a rubber ball she had brought back and forth to her and liked bouncing it against the cave wall and trying to catch it with its claws.  
Just yesterday she had found it nudging a rawst berry to a Zubat with a particularly bad burn on one of its wings.  
How Emerald knew that berry would help out of the pile she brought she didn’t know.  
It would have been extremely coincidental if Emerald had just guessed.  
It even seemed to enjoy the human food she brought even more than the berries and beans especially the cookies she brought on one occasion.  
After seeing the ultra beast do all of this Lillie decided that she wanted to test the ultra beasts intelligence.  
She already knew It was definitely a lot smarter than any other ultra beast her mother had summoned but by how much?  
“Vulpix! Vul!” Snowy barked happily racing down to the usual area Emerald would hang around.  
The blond could hear the beast make one of its usual gurgling noises as well as the sharp click of its claws as it started toward the two on three legs and greeted Snowy by nuzzling it when the Vulpix bounced around its claws.  
Lillie smiled at it, “Hello to you too Emerald!” She greeted, “I’m glad to see your feeling even better today! A few more days and I might be able to take some of your bandages off!”  
Emerald made another happy gurgling noise and pulled at her bag with its claws.  
“Hey! Are you only greeting me just because you want the food I brought for you today?”  
Emerald gave her an innocent look and pulled at the bag again.  
Lillie chuckled softly, “Don’t worry you’ll get your food, let's just go down to your little area.”  
The creature whined in a tone that almost sounded annoyed and padded over to its blankets, pamphlet and of course the Hypno plush that it seemed to like so much.  
Shining her light around the area, she couldn't help but notice the book she had been reading to it yesterday was now open to a later chapter.  
Lillie sat down next to the creature as Snowy snuggled up to its side were all its bruises were now mostly faded and pulled a can of fruit and a sandwich container out of her bag and put it on the ground in front of the beast.  
Emerald stared at the two things then turned to her in confusion.  
“If you want the food then you're going to have to open them,” she told it.  
Emerald snorted, tail thrashing as it pushed the two things away and lifted its muzzle to the sky for a moment before looking to her bag expectantly.  
“No,” she told it softly, unamused by its little tantrum as the creature had been doing acts like this more and more often for some strange reason, “I’m sorry Emerald but you have to try a little to open them before you eat… please?”  
The creature stared at her for a moment, but after a moment moved the can to itself with its claws.  
The ultra beast studied it for a moment, then with a little hesitation, clawed at the top of the can a few times before hooking a single claw through the finger hole of the lid.  
Emerald moved another claw that was more on the side of its clawed appendage and awkwardly pushed down on the lid, a confused look on its face.  
An expression that quickly melted away as it pulled off the lid with the claw it had through the hole, blue eyes lighting up.  
“Wow! Good job Emerald!” She praised, yet again flabbergasted with the beast's actions.  
It had figured it out so fast.  
Almost too fast.  
She had expected it to take a little longer than that or at least have a few attempts at it, but Emerald had acted like it had known exactly what to do.  
The ultra beast sniffed it then picked up a few of the fruits in its claws and shoved it in its beak.  
The creature looked surprised at the taste and swallowed another mouth full.  
“Yummy, right?” she asked as the creature dropped a piece in front of Snowy, who happily gobbled it up.  
Emerald's shoulders just twitched slightly almost like it was shrugging, quickly finishing the food in a few bites.  
“Vulpix! Vul! Pix! Pix! Pix!” Snowy barked, licking her paws off the juice on them and brought the sandwich container over to the beast.  
Emerald looked to her and sniffed as if to say; 'Really? You want me to open this to?'  
“Okay, now open this… it's your favorite!”  
The ultra beast whined and a lot quicker than with the can, pulled the top off with its claws in no more than five seconds, took the sandwich out and began to eat it in its ‘normal’ way.  
Just like the can, Emerald opened it so precisely.  
It wouldn’t have made any sense if the foundation just taught it...  
Had it learned from eating out of the trash?  
No… people don’t usually throw full cans and containers like that away, but then how else?!  
Emerald came from another world, it shouldn't recognize the objects.  
Much less know how to open them.  
Unless of course, it’s world was like theirs.  
“There you go! You opened it! Good job!” Lillie told it with a supportive smile, “You’re so smart! I'm so proud of you!”  
The creature stopped eating and for a split second, she swore it looked smug before it returned to its sandwich.  
“Anyways… I brought some new books I thought you might like to look at, and I bought a pack of cards too! Do you know what cards are?” she asked taking out the two objects.  
Emerald finished the last bite of its food and looked curiously over the two objects.  
“Do you want to look at the book first? It’s about all the different kinds of berries in Alola. You seemed to really like the one I brought the other day, so I thought you might like looking at this one.”  
Emerald perked up and stared down at the cover already trying to open it with its claws.  
Seeing was interested, Lillie pulled out a Chesto berry, a Pecha berry, a Wacan berry, a Mago berry, and a pamtre berry then placed them near the pack of cards.  
“Don’t eat them yet!” Lillie told the beast as it reached its claws to them, “I thought we could play a little game with them first.”  
Emerald cocked its head and exchanged a look with Snowy, who only barked encouragingly.  
“So… I have some berries here and I want you to flip through the book to try and find all the berries that match them! It’ll be like a finding things game, and when you match a berry you get to eat it! Sound fun?”  
“Vulpix!” her vulpix nodded in agreement at the creature.  
Emerald stared at her for the longest time and at first, Lillie was afraid that it hadn’t entirely understood her but before she could repeat the rules of the game, the creature flipped to the index of the book, trying to be careful as to not to rip any pages like last time.  
Staring intently at the Pecha berry then up and down the page, eyes squinting in what looked like concentration before it flipped a few dozen pages to the picture and description of a Pecha berry.  
It looked at Lillie happily, it's tail swaying definitely proud of itself as it looked expectantly to the Pecha berry.  
When Lillie didn’t give it to the creature, too busy gaping, Snowy rolled it over to Emerald who gobbled it up then went back to the index of the book then flipped to the Cheso berry which Lillie rolled to it in reward.  
This game continued until Emerald had found every last berry she had brought without making a single mistake.  
“Good… job Emerald… You found them all!” Lillie said with somewhat forced happiness, as on the inside her gut was churning for a reason she didn’t entirely understand.  
Emerald had looked at the index and found where the berries were by looking at the page numbers rather than randomly flipping through the pages until it matched up with the berries she brought when it saw them on the page like she thought it would have.  
She hadn’t been completely certain before but this outright proved it could read as well as have a somewhat understanding of how numbers worked.  
Lillie knew most Pokemon couldn’t even read so how on earth could this creature possibly know?!  
She could look over it knowing how to open things, but read?  
Even if Emerald had somehow taught itself, usually learning something like that took a while especially if you were teaching yourself and Emerald had supposedly only been in this world for a few months.  
Lillie put a hand on her forehead, her skull beginning to ache from how much more confusing and conflicted everything about this strange ultra beast continued to get.  
Maybe… it wasn’t even an ultra beast at all?  
Could the foundation have been lying the whole time?  
With everyone being so positive they were hunting another ultra beast could Emerald be an entirely different creature this whole time?  
It had been extremely coincidental that another ultra wormhole just so happened to open in the foundation again.  
Once maybe, but twice?  
Now Lillie wasn't so sure.  
Yet another wormhole appearing in the same place again in such a short time seemed extremely unlikely, especially her mother couldn't have just summed yet another one without Nebby's power.  
“Emerald, how do you know all this? Is your world that much like ours? Did you perhaps have a trainer? Or… Um… did Aether Paradise make you? Are you like Silvally? Did they maybe make you really smart and make it so you could learn really fast?”  
It wasn’t until the name; ‘Silvally’ left her lips that got a reaction out of Emerald, its eyes narrowed and an angry-sounding growl left its maw, claws moving to grip the Hypno plush.  
“Vulpix!?” Snowy barked and put a paw on its other set of claws.  
The blond girl blinked in surprise, she had never seen Emerald look angry.  
Annoyed, scared yes, angry definitely not.  
“What's wrong? Do you not like Silvally?”  
Again the creature growled, looking off in the distance another growl rumbling in its throat as it started to bare its teeth.  
Why did it seem to dislike Silvally so much?  
The Aether Foundation still called the remaining one there, Type: Null and if it did get in a fight with Gladden and Silvally she was sure her brother would have warned her of the beast by now.  
“There's no need to be angry! Silvally’s nowhere around hear so you don’t have to worry about that, It’s really nice anyhow.”  
Emerald looked unconvinced, still growling.  
It’s eyes narrowing with a flame growing in them.  
“Enough about that! How about we play with some cards now?”  
Emerald’s snarl fell as Lillie opened the deck, “We don’t have to play any games with them, you can just look at them if you want. I'm just going to spread them out for now, so just try not to rip them, please.”  
The creature closed the book, cocking its head as Lillie began to lay out all the cards, face up.  
“This one is an ace, this ones called a queen and that one's a king.”  
She said pointing at each card.  
Lillie was half was though naming all of them when Emerald gurgled and picked up or at least attempted to pick up the three of diamonds.  
It yelped in alarm as its sharp claws ripped all the way through the card.  
It shook the card off giving Lillie a sad, guilty look.  
“It’s okay! It's just one card and the rips not even that big, you can keep playing with them if you want.”  
The creature hesitated and looked at its claws for a moment before trying to pick up the four of diamonds resulting in it ripping followed by the six, seven and eight of diamonds as it tried picking those up as well too only for all them to rip.  
Emerald whimpered, its ears dropping as it nudged two parts a ripped card together.  
Once it realized there was no fixing it the so-called ultra beast shuttered, rising on all its claws again then bowing its head down apologetically, making that odd hissing followed by a growling noise she had heard it use a few times before.  
“Emerald it’s alright! You didn’t rip them on purpose! please sit back down, your leg still hasn’t healed all the way! I can just buy a new pack! They're not that expensive.”  
“Pix, pix!” Snowy nodded, trying to encourage the creature to play with the cards some more by flipping them around on their backs, but Emerald only lowered its head, burying a good portion of its maw in the stuffed Hypos white fur, continuing to make the hissing, growling sounds.  
The poor thing looked so ashamed.  
“Really! It’s okay!” Lillie said, giving the creatures small side a hug as she ran her fingers through its mane.  
“I'm sorry… I shouldn't have brought the cards I didn’t think they would make you so upset,” the blond whispers softly as Snowy rubbed up against the creature.  
“How about I start reading you the berry book? Would… you like that?”  
Emerald just made the growl, hissing noise one again, “ssssssiiiih...uuhhuuu...hhhrrr..eiii..hh” it whined and leaned against her hug.  
His now growling noises slowly becoming small whimpers.  
Lillie's chest clenched a little, hugging the creature for a little bit longer before letting go and grabbing the book.  
The girl could feel Snowy curl up in her lap and Emerald move a little closer to her as she started to read out loud.

~

Emerald, to Lillie's joy, didn’t stay upset for too much longer, perking its head up as soon as Lillie commented on wanting to find a particular berry that was rather rare, and making an odd almost thrill like noise.  
The girl just smiled at it and continued to read and when the book was done Lillie simply continued reading the chapter book about wizards that Emerald seemed to like so much.  
She was only a few chapters away from finishing the book when Snowy yanked on her skirt and pointed in the direction of that cave with a paw.  
Her eyes widened as she remembered.  
“Oh no the lunch!” the girl exclaimed leaping to her feet.  
Emerald cocked its head at her and pawed at the book.  
“No Emerald, I’m sorry, but were going to have to finish it tomorrow,” Lillie said as she quickly shoved what she had brought into the bag.  
“I'm supposed to eat lunch with Kukui and Burnet today! They said they wanted to talk to me about something really important, I can't miss it! Oh, I hope I’m not too late…”  
Emerald whined and shook its head.  
“I’ll be back! Tomorrow as always! I think I’ll even have your mug fixed then! I'm almost done!”  
The creature just whimpered again, as always unhappy with her departure.  
Lillie gently ruffled it ears and straightened out its towel then put its blanket over it as Snowy licked its muzzle that was still buried in the stuffed Hypno.  
“I’ll even bring the second book tomorrow when we finish reading the first! It’s even better than that one.”  
Emerald exhaled through its nose and cuddled the stuffed pokemon closer.  
“Vullllpix!” Snowy barked, waving a paw at it.  
“Bye Emerald!” Lillie told it softly, pulling on her bag and leaving the cave with a few anxious looks back at the creature.  
She didn’t know how to feel exactly about its human behavior today.  
It was certainly more off-putting and troublesome than usual and didn’t make a lick of sense.  
Nether noticing as when they turned their backs the creature stared intently at its claws and very slowly lifted it and moved the claws best it could side to side at them.  
Both the trainer and her Pokemon then sprinted the majority of the way back and burst into the house huffing and puffing.  
“Sorry, we're late Professor! I lost track of time,” she said through her breaths, her body suddenly tensing against her will as Burnet towered over for a split second worried about punishment before relaxing as the women smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, knowing that unlike her mother Burnet never dug her nails in her skin.  
“That's quite alright Lillie! Kikui and I lose track of time a lot whenever we work and train! And besides, you're not late at all! The foods still warm!”  
Lillie smiled back and sat her bag down, “Good… so, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”  
The woman chuckled, “I'm afraid you're going to have to ask Kukui about that! He was extremely persistent that he was the one to tell you!”  
Lillie nodded, washing her hands and walking into the dining room only for her smile to quickly fall, “K-kahuna Hala?! W-what are you doing here!?”  
At the table beside Kukui, Hala grinned widely at her and motioned for her to come over.  
“Hello, Lillie! Professor Kukui didn’t tell you? He invited me over to show me something he invented! Why don’t you come sit down? I’ve heard you’ve taken up training a Vulpix recently.”  
“Errr, okay..” she murmured, surprised that the device Kikui and Burnet had been working on was finally done and more at the fact that they wanted to show it to Hala of all people.  
Looking over anxiously to Snowy who was over by Burnet, the women had just put a bowl of food down for her Pokemon before Lillie slowly approached the kahuna.  
She still liked the man, but his along with almost all the other Kahuna and volunteers relentlessness to kill poor Emerald made her uneasy of him.  
They had hurt the poor creature so bad when she had just found it that fateful night, and she wasn't certain, but she was pretty sure Emerald's stinger had been ripped off by some kind of fighting type Pokemon, one of Hala’s Pokémon most likely.  
Lillie didn’t understand why they had to use such violence against any kind of creature.  
It frustrated her that they didn’t even bother to try and understand what it’s been through and why it was so scared.  
She wished so badly that she could tell them right now that Emerald wasn’t like the other ultra beast.  
That it wasn’t dangerous or vicious, but if not a tad bit bratty every now and then was very sweet and docile, understood their words and was extremely intelligent.  
Then she could let the creature out of that stuffy cave and help send it back to its home where a possible trainer might be aimlessly looking for it or maybe even If it really was like Silvally she could keep Emerald if it allowed her to like Gladion with Silvally, she could become an even better trainer, one like Moon.  
Even if Emerald didn’t mind being cooped up in a dark uncomfortable cave unlike Nebbey and its bag, she wanted to free it and let it run around to its heart's content, free of any people or Pokémon chasing and hurting it, but she knew none of this would ever be at least not yet.  
Even if Hala did just up and believe her which was unlikely as she knew he acted rashly from time to time and had the habit of being caught up in protecting Alola to the extent were he thought rather one-sidedly and if the creature was humanely caught Lillie knew it would eventually be sent back to Aether and then her mother would hurt it again.  
This situation really was so different compared to Nebby and Silvally.  
The foundation hardly made any public announcement on the Pokémon that had been stolen as no one outside her mother, Branch Chief Faba, Wicke and a handful of scientists were supposed to know about them.  
With Emerald, Lillie felt like she had to constantly look over her shoulder and that she was constantly being watched as the creature was broadcasted on every newspaper.  
No matter where she went, they were always looking for Emerald.  
Her mother was more desperate to get this creature back than any other creature that she ‘loved’, enough to take as big a risk as to get the media directly involved and Lillie, like what she had done with Nebby and her brother with Silvally, was not going to let her mother get her hands on Emerald, she wouldn’t let it happen.  
Not like when she had let her get Nebby.  
The poor thing almost died last time her mother got ahold of it and it was all because of her.  
“Well, Lillie did you have a good time training with Snowy today? Learn any new moves yet?” Kukui asked enthusiastically as Lille sat down and forced herself to eat the food that was already placed in front of her.  
“Not yet Profesor, but with a little training I’m sure she will!”  
“That's the spirit!” Kukui exclaimed jumping up a little in his seat them turned to the older man, “She's gone such a long way, hasn’t she? I think you might be seeing her challenge you to a grand trial sooner than later!”  
Hala laughed, a booming noise that seemed to shake the table, “She currently has Kukui! I wouldn't be surprised if she goes off to train more on other islands like my Hou did! But she’ll need a few more Pokemon before she even thinks to defeat me! How about a nice fighting type Lillie? They can really pack a punch!  
Just the mere mention of the boy opened a hole in Lillie.  
She hadn't seen her enthusiastic friend in so long, ever since Moon left.  
He was so nice and kind and understanding, she wished so badly he would come back soon if there was anyone she knew she could tell about Emerald It was him, he would help her, but she doubted the boy would come back anytime soon.  
“A-actually, I was kind of thinking about finding a Clafable,” Lillie revealed unable to look into Hala’s eyes as the scene of the kahuna's Hariyama yanking Emeralds stinger flashed for a brief moment in her head.  
The agonized screaming of Emerald ringing in her ears as the blue liquid gushed out of ware the stinger used to be probably getting all over the Hariyama's hand.  
“A fairy type hmmm? I’m not really a fan of them myself, but I can understand the appeal.” Hala said and finished up the remaining food on his plate.  
“Oh! A Clafable would be a great addition to your team!” Burnet beamed, “We’ll have to try catching one together once all this ultra beast stuff is over with.”  
Lillie bite her lip and stared at her food, “Ya… we’ll have to.”  
“Don’t fret Lillie! I’m positive it won't be too long now until the Fabeast is destroyed!....Or contained!" he quickly added at Lillie's look.  
"In fact, we Kahuna's haven’t gotten a single trace of it since the battle we had with it a little more than a week ago! We think it might have run off for good!”  
Battle? Lillie remembered how the creature had fallen off a cliff in its attempt to get away from them and apparently according to Kukui didn’t harm a single person or Pokémon that night.  
That was no battle.  
Kukui frowned, “You’re sure the search party didn’t hurt it so bad it crawled off and perished somewhere?”  
Hala shrugged, “If it did, we didn’t find its body anywhere, only some of its blood on a couple of rocks that led us nowhere.”  
Lillie tensed in her seat gripping her hands together tightly in her lap.  
“You never know Hala! It could be hiding out somewhere trying to heal. From how slippery the Fabeast is I really don’t think it's dead.” Burnet said calmly.  
“I sure hope you’re right hun! All the other ultra beast got sent back through their portals so quickly. I really want to study it together and find out what moves it knows If we really do end up having no choice but to give it back to Aether.”  
Burnet frowned softly as Lillie looked down, her hands starting to feel clammy.  
Hala shook his head, “Don’t get your hopes too high professor. Catching this thing is going to be nearly impossible even if it is stuck on Melemele since some of its blood is on route four maybe I was thinking about searching around there more in-depth. It might have gone back there again, possibly even into Mememe meadow. I feel like that’s the best place to look next time.”  
Lillie could feel her whole body freeze.  
No… don’t look there… she only thought to herself, images of the Kahuna’s pokemon letting lose the poor creature and a dead, bloody Emerald flashed in her head.  
The beast whimpering and looking at Lillie with its sad blue eyes as if it was begging her to not let it die or struggling wildly as it was strapped in offal restraints and a horrible muzzle as it was taken back to her mother.  
Everything she had done for Emerald was in danger of being for nothing…  
“But Kahuna Hala what if the Fabeast isn’t on the island at all anymore?” Lillie blurted out quickly.  
The three adults stared at her, all equally as confused, “You think… It might not be on the island anymore? But Lillie it doesn't have any wings or any teleportation powers that were aware of anyways, how would it manage to get off?” Hala asked tugging at his mustache.  
“It arrived on a boat right?” Lillie asked thinking fast.  
“That's correct… It even badly injured two employees who were on the boat at the time.” Hala answered.  
“Then, If it's smart enough to get on that boat in the first place what's stopping it from just… jumping on another and going to one of the other islands?”  
Everyone went quiet with shock, “N-no that can’t be.” the kahuna whispered hand over his mouth.  
Lillie felt a small pang in her chest, she had never seen Hala like this before, he looked completely horrified.  
While she was upset at the fact he wanted to kill Emerald without giving it a single chance.  
She knew no one cared most for the people of Alola than Hala did.  
“It’s possible. All the others said it was unnecessary to do any boat checks, the reason why we haven’t seen it in a while might be because it's on another island…” Kukui mumbled.  
“The Kahuna’s on the other islands would have informed us if they saw it! They haven’t said a thing!” Hala argued desperately.  
“But they haven’t been looking!” Burnet pointed out, “Didn’t you tell them that you were sure the Fabeast was on Melemele?”  
“Oh no… oh no…” the man grounded and buried his head in his large hands, “Kukui I’m sorry, but this thing you wanted to show me will just have to wait, I have to go warn the other Kahunas immediately! The islanders could be in danger!”  
“Hala wait! Please, showing you this is very important to me… I understand what you need to do is extremely important, but you have to agree the Fabeast hasn't done anything in a while, so I’m sure you can spare just a few minutes to see what me and Burnet have made, I’m sure It’ll help at least a little bit in capturing the ultra beast.”  
Lillie really just wanted Hala to leave at this point, so the kahuna and trial captains would finally leave Melemele and she could maybe even take Emerald out the cave once or twice as she had hoped to, but she had a somewhat good feeling about what the professors had made, “I think you should come and look at it Hala, they’ve been working on it for a while.”  
She told him, Lillie herself even a little curious about what the two had made when she was out caring for Emerald.  
“Very well, but it can’t take long,” Hala grunted with a nervous look at the door.  
“It won’t take long at all!” Kukui exclaimed, literally dragging the older man away from the table, “You too Lillie! This connects to what I wanted to talk to you about, yah!”  
The girl swallowed, so he did want to talk to her about something connecting to Emerald then, “O-okay Professor! Come on Snowy lets go check it out.”  
“Vulpix.” Snowy barked, done with her food a few bits of it still stuck to her maw as she ran over and jumped into her trainer's arms.  
Lillie squeezed her tightly and followed Kukui and Hala outside.  
“Behold!” Kukui said motioning to a large palm tree with a large grin on his face.  
“Umm, Professor I don’t see anything,” Lillie told him as Snowy sniffed the air.  
“Wait for it,” Burnet whispered as Kukui let out his Lycanroc.  
“Aright Zircon! You know what to do!”  
The Pokémon barked and started to wander off near the tree.  
“Now pretend Zircon is the ultra beast and it's running around probably looking for food! And it sees those berries by the palm tree and goes up to eat them when…”  
As soon as the rock type was a few feet away from the food, it was quickly lifted high into the air in a flash by a large silver-colored net with several little silver balls attached to the top that stuck together once the net lifted, the bells that were attached to it jiggling loudly.  
The Pokemon didn’t even get a chance to fight to get out or even yelp as the top of the net hissed and a cloud of yellow dust came out of the nozzles on the silver balls.  
Zircon blinked, his head drooping as the Pokémon fell fast asleep, the bells on the net still jingling.  
“Wow!” Lillie exclaimed as she and Snowy stared up at the contraption.  
“And as you can see when the Fabeast gets caught in the net the bells will alert us! We won’t even have to fight it as the sleeping powder we installed will spray it and if that fails all the nets are poison type proof!”  
“This is… quite brilliant professor, I suppose you want permission to put it somewhere on the island?”  
“We want permission to put them all around the island actually, Kukui and I made a few dozen,” Burnet replied.  
“It's amazing! You can catch the ultra beast without even leaving a scratch on it!” Lillie said feeling a flash of admiration for the two.  
Snowy let out a small whine at the sight of the contraption, no doubt she was thinking of Emerald.  
Kukui grinned at her, “This is also the part I wanted to talk to you about! You see the nets aren't going to watch themselves and you’ve been training a lot so I'm positive you can handle yourself! I was hoping you could watch a few of them and even come with me and Burnet the next time we do a sweep of the island!”  
“O-of course!” She exclaimed as Snowy whined more sounding slightly unsure, most of Lillie’s fears of someone finding Emerald starting to fade away, If she went with Kukui she could easily steer them away from the cave and with Hala possibly going to the other islands with the members of the search team, It would be easier than ever to protect the creature!  
“So, Hala will you let us put the traps up? Oh, and could you also ask the others kahuna if we can do the same for their islands as well?” Kukui asked as he lowered the net with a crank mechanism that was attached to the back of the tree.  
The Kahuna ran a hand over his mustache, “Hmmm, I suppose you may, but you understand this isn’t going to stop my groups approach to what we will do to it if we happen to find it ourselves, correct? I’m sorry, but I’m not risking anyone chasing it into a trap.”  
“We understand Hala… Thank you so much for letting us do this.” Burnet told him with a smile.  
The fighting type user gave them a strained smile, “You're welcome Burnet, If only for your sake I wish you good luck in catching the Fabeast, especially you Lillie, I wouldn't want you to think of me as a monster...”  
Hala passed for a moment to look up at the sky, “Now, I think I’ve stayed here for long enough. I really better get going and warn the other Kahuna’s, thank you for dinner, Burnet, Kukui, It was delicious,” The old man said with a bow.  
“You’re welcome! Thank you for coming!” Kukui said, patting Zircon's head before putting the Lycanroc back in his ball and returning the bow.  
The Kahuna then gave them one last smile before he rushed off, his yellow coat flowing behind him.  
The three watched the man leave and as soon as he disappeared Kukui pulled her, Burnet and Snowy into a bone-crushing hug that could put a Beware to shame, “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” the man hooped, “Oh, Burnet, Lillie! I just know we're going to catch the Fabeast now! I just know it! I can’t wait! What other type do you think it is!? Dragon?! Ground?! Dark?! Bug?! Woh! I'm just so fired up to find out!”  
Burnet laughed and even Snowy seemed to catch the happiness even if the ice-type seemed to be a little uneasy at the way they were talking about capturing her friend.  
Lillie herself couldn’t suppress her smile even though she knew the man definitely wouldn’t find Emerald anytime soon.  
“I'm really excited to, Kukui! I really want to study it! Hopefully, If I manage to keep it from Aether Paradise, I can get it to trust me enough to let me touch it and study it close up! I would love to pet its mane you keep telling me about! I wonder if it’s more like hair or fur…”  
“I'm sure it's really soft!” Lillie chimed in, “And I’m sure if you do catch it, professor, It might even end up being really friendly, we might even be able to make friends with it!!”  
“Vulpix! Vulpix!” Snowy barked.  
“I sure hope so! Woh! I already can’t wait for us to go on searching together as a family!”  
“F-family?” Lillie whispered.  
Just the mention of that word reminded her of Gladion and even Wicke, but her mother was fuzzy now compared to the two.  
“Well ya! We are a family, aren't we? Just because you already have one doesn't mean you can't have another!” the man chirped.  
“Ya..Ya! We are!” Lillie said allowing herself to forget about all Emerald's human-like actions for the day, her uneasiness, fear, and worry of the creature. Along with the guilt she felt about not telling the two professors anything fading at least for now as she hugged to two tightly, tears of happiness welling in her eyes as she celebrated with a smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lillie: "The ray of green light then shot out of the mans wand and hit- Oh no! Sorry Emerald gotta go!!"  
> Emerald/Faba: *distressed creature noises*


	18. A Flaw In A Beasts Design

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Emerald gets his mug back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos!! Hellos!  
> Before I say anything about this chapter I would just like to thank everyone for reaching 1000 hits!!  
> So thank you to everyone that's gave me kudos, bookmarks, commented, people who just clicked on this story out of curiosity only to quickly click off because they got understandably freaked out and of course my wonderful people who are probably reading this from afar like I do a lot when I read fanfiction and be too nervous to comment anything!  
> Commenting is scary after all... but ya!  
> Again thank you all so much for sticking with me so far, I could have never gotten this far without all of you!  
> Hopefully, you all stick with me the whole way through this story and I promise you the road is going to get very bumpy and very emotional! yayyyy!  
> Anyhow sadly this chapter is pretty short, so I won't be able to give you guys a thank you gift as a long chapter, but the next one will be long, so look forward to that!  
> As always I hope you enjoy this chapter and apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar!!

“Well, hello to you too Emerald!” Lillie greeted happily as the creature approached her as soon as she stepped foot in the cave with a wagging tail.  
“Vulpix!” Snowy greeted it, rubbing up against the creature's scaly legs.  
Emerald nuzzled Snowy back in greeting and pulled away from the ice-type to look up at Lillie, it’s maw opening in a large grin, that would have been intimidating with all its teeth if not for its long forked tongue hanging out of Its mouth like an over-excited Rockruff.  
“What is it?” she asked it, smiling in amusement as the creature started in the direction of its ‘territory’ and looked back to her, “Do you want to show me something?”  
Emerald's tail continued to wag with an almost skip to its step as Lillie followed the ultra beast.  
Lillie was lost for a moment at what exactly It was trying to show her before she spotted the small pile of Occa berries by the open wizard's book.  
“E-Emerald!” the girl gasped and rushed over to the pile, they were the exact same berries she had pointed out she wanted yesterday!  
“Did you go out of the cave just to get these just for me? I-Is this because of the cads? I said I forgave you for that! There was no reason to leave the cave, someone could have seen you!”  
She looked over to the ultra beast who was preoccupied with trying to slurp its tongue back in its mouth that it somehow only noticed was hanging out now with an annoyed look on its face.  
Turning to her when it succeed with a nonconcerned gurgle.  
“I-I mean it! I appreciate the berries, Emerald. I don’t even know how you managed to find them! You were probably looking around for a long time, but you shouldn't have left the cave! Someone could have hurt you!”  
“Vulpix! PIx!” Snowy barked with a few nods.  
The creature winced and let out a whine followed by more of some hissing, growling noises.  
“It’s alright! Just don’t do it again please, at least not until Hala and the others leave to go to the other islands tomorrow.”  
Emerald perked slightly at this and rolled a berry over to Snowy with one of its claws who gave a yap in thanks and swallowed it.  
The girl smiled again as she sat down near the creature's things and pat the towel as she fished around in her bag, “Maybe we can even go outside in a few days! You must be getting cabin fever by now.”  
The creature just sniffed, sitting down by the Hypno plush and looking curiously inside her bag  
“Okay Emerald now just sit still for me alright? I’m going to take off your bandages. You can eat as I do and when I’m done, I even have a little gift for you!”  
The ultra beast licked its beak and gurgled as Lillie put the food in front of it, instantly digging in as Lillie pulled a small pair of scissors out of her bag and carefully snipped off all the bandages around its legs, tail, middle and its stingers.  
All the wounds were almost entirely healed except for the missing parts of its stingers, and a few of the deeper wounds including the ones that Emerald had given itself that would sadly scar.  
Emerald took the last bite of its food and looked over its body.  
Lillie ran her hand down the creature's mane, “There we go! Doesn' that feel so much better?”  
The creature stared at her, tail wagging then looked to her bag.  
“Oh! Your gift! Here Emerald!” She said taking an object that was wrapped in a towel to avoid breaking it, unwarping it and holding out the creatures now fixed mug.  
“Sorry, It took so long to fix… It was In a lot of pieces and I didn’t really have that much free time to do it.”  
The ultra beast broke out into a large grin when it saw its mug, getting to it claws and jumping around in excitement, strangely enough only really using its back legs when it did so, making strange gurgling noises that sounded as if it was purring.  
“Oh! Emerald remember to be careful on your leg please!” The girl warned, placing its mug on the ground beside it as the beast calmed down a little, tail still wagging like crazy and front legs moving up and down as It looked at its mug from every angle.  
Gurgling happy as it looked over to Snowy and motioned at the mug.  
“Vulpix!” The ice-type barked at it, bounding over to it and sniffing the mug a few times the yapping in happiness.  
“Where did you find that mug anyway Emerald?” she asked it, “I was looking around in some of the shops and… I didn’t see a mug that looked like yours anywhere, was it in a trash can maybe?”  
The creature gave her a funny look as if such a question was absurd and nudged its mug to itself with its claws and raised its head a little to the sky with another one of its claws to its chest, before a confused look crossed it face and it put its claws back down with a shake of its head.  
Lillie wasn’t sure what Emerald meant by doing that and turned away from it to pull out a thermos from her bag, “Also.. since I know how much you like human food Emerald,I thought you might like to try some drinks I like!”  
The creature cocked its head at her staring at the thermos then down to its mug.  
“It's called sweet tea,” she told it taking a portable bowl out of her bag, “Do you know what that is? I thought you might really like it because of how well... sweet it is!”  
Emerald moved its claws near the thermos as if to grab it, but moved it back and wrinkling its muzzle slightly as Lillie poured some of the tea in the bowl.  
The creature instantly looked away from it, muzzle in the air in its normal jester that it didn’t want it.  
“Emerald… I know you don’t like eating or drinking from bowls, but you can't drink out of this. You have claws and a muzzle and I don’t have anything else you can drink out of..”  
“Pix..” Snowy agreed shaking her head at the creature and pointing at the bowl.  
The ultra beasts ears twitched and without missing a beat pushed its mug toward Lillie with a gurgle.  
“Oh, Um... I guess that would work,” she said unsurely, taking the green mug and filling it halfway with tea before setting it back down.  
“Careful with it, you don't want to break it again,” she warned.  
Emerald sniffed, its face twisting in concentration as it put four of its claws through the mugs handle instead of just lapping up the liquid as it did with the water in the pool.  
“Wait! You shouldn't-” the blond girl started, but was cut off by the distinctive sound of pottery shattering as when the creature tried lifting the mug with its claws to its muzzle, the mug fell from its claws and broke on the stone floor in several large pieces.  
Snowy jumped and yelped at the sound and looked down sadly at the now broken mug.  
“Emerald… I thought I told you to be careful with it... Now I have to fix it all over again..”  
Despite her tone not being harsh, the creature whimpered once again making the same hissing, growling noises at her, shaking its head and oddly enough looking close to crying.  
The poor thing didn’t even meet Lillie’s eyes as it stared at the broken mug.  
The blond girl stared at it, why did Emerald keep making those noises?  
It only made them when it broke things usually.  
Did it mean it was guilty or upset?  
She had never paid too much attention to it before, but now that she was she realized just how off it sounded.  
Almost as off as its horrible screams, the sound had an almost human pitch to it.  
As if it’s other human-like actions weren’t unsettling enough.  
She paid extra attention as it made its peculiar hissing sound first; “S..s..sssss…” instantly followed by the growling; “rrr...rr..ehhh.”  
“S..sss.s..srr..hhehhee, sssurrrr...ehhh, sssssss...surrrre…..yyhh,” listening to the sounds closely Lillie realized the beast was trying to say something.  
A sudden cold traveled down her body as if Snowy had just used an ice type move on her.  
Those weren't noises Emerald was making, they sounded like very specific English syllables.  
It was externally garbled and rough sounding, but if you put all the syllables together, it sounded like the creature was saying sorry.  
Lillie found herself rooted to the spot, unable to move no matter how much the logical part of her mind screamed at her to get away from Emerald.  
Not because she was suddenly afraid of the creature, just extremely unnerved by just how uncanny the words sounded.  
Pokemon couldn't talk, It wasn't possible except for mimicking and Emerald definitely didn’t sound like it was merely mimicking.  
The ‘word’ was much too deliberate, too intentional and all too human in sound like it was only talking with the back of its throat.  
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she forced herself to gather up the pieces of the mug with shaking hands.  
“I..I th...think I should go fi...fix your mug… Emerald,” she stuttered and got to her unsteady legs without even putting what little she had brought back into her bag.  
Emerald instantly looked up to her with a loud whine.  
Lilie made the mistake of meeting its eyes that were swimming with confusion, guilt, sadness, and desperation.  
Why did its eyes always look so human?!  
This was wrong, something about this was so uncanny and wrong.  
“I’m… sorry.. I..I just need to fix it.. Then I’ll come back, I… just need to fix it…” she said backing away from the creature as Snowy hesitantly followed whimpering in confusion and looking between her and the ultra beast, not understanding Lillie’s sudden change in attitude.  
She was being unfair to the poor beast and she knew it, but the sense of unnaturalness was just too overpowering to ignore.  
She needed to get way from Emerald, she needed to clear her head and think about this badly.  
The creatures whimpers grew louder, repeating what she now knew as an apology over and over again.  
Lillie resisted plugging in her ears, its words sounding like nails on a chalkboard to her now and made her stomach flip.  
“Shh, It’s okay… Just stay here okay?”  
Emerald only whined again, looking truly miserable and hurt, its ears flattening to the sides of its head as it stopped following her and watched as Lillie raced out of the cave with Snowy pausing to lick the ultra beasts muzzle and give it an apologetic bark before running out of the cave to the meadow to catch up with her trainer.  
“Vul? Vulpix?” Snowy whimpered in confusion and nuzzled the side of her leg.  
“It… It talked Snowy!” Lillie uttered with wide, horrified eyes, “Emerald really talked!” Her voice badly trembling.  
“Pix?” The Pokémon barked, then her eyes widened as she looked to their left and managed to desperately point in that direction and yanked at her skirt.  
“It's supposed to be an ultra beast right?! So how… how could it just talk like that!? It might have been created so… Snowy do you think it might be related to a human? No… no that doesn't make any sense, but what if-”  
“Y-Young master? Young master is that you?” a feminine voice asked, that was much too close for Lillie’s comfort.  
She struggled to wipe the unsettled look off her face and turned to an Aether employee who was only a few feet from her, staring for a moment at the faint scratch marks on her arms and even some by her face, “I’m sorry I can’t talk at the moment, me and Snowy have to go home now,” she said firmly, glancing around for signs of anyone else, but the grunt appeared to be completely alone.  
More of her suspicions rose, that was weird the employees never went off all on their own like this and not only that the scratches on her face didn’t seem to come from any Pokémon.  
They seemed way too small almost like... a human had scratched her.  
She had seen marks like this relatively often on some of the more disobedient, sarcastic employees after a chat with mother and it made a part of Lillie wonder If Gladdion really was right and her mother was the one that had scratched all of them for some reason...  
Her heart skipped a beat at the thought.  
“Pix, Pix.” Snowy agreed with a nod.  
The grunt took off her hat to run a hand through her long, red, “I… look I won’t take long alright!? Please, this is important!” she said desperately.  
The woman pausing for a moment and took a deep breath as if trying to collect herself, “I know It’s one hell of a long shot, but have you seen the Fabeast in the past week? I’ve literally asked everyone on his damn island and no one has seen even a glance of him.” she bit her lip, real worry flashing in her hazel eyes, “I’m scared he might have gotten hurt somewhere or might be…”  
The redhead’s hazel eyes widened as she let out a shuddering breath and shook her head, “Please… I know you don’t trust us, I know you’ve seen The Foundation at its worst after everything with that nebula pokemon thing and the Type: Null and It's really just going further down the shiter ever since your brother left to be completely honest, but if I don’t find him very bad things are going to happen to him… So, have you seen him?”  
“N-no” Lillie said struggling to meet the woman’s worry-filled eyes, a little confused how a lowly grunt knew all this, as most grunts were blissfully unaware of the real horrors in the foundations.  
“I'm really sorry, but I haven’t seen it in a while.”  
The women looked devastated, “Heh heh... Thought so, like things would ever be that easy for us…” she muttered bitterly and looked down to the ground.  
Lillie felt a pang of guilt through her for making the stranger so upset but ignored it best she could.  
“Sorry, I’m no help… umm, I really have to go now… bye.”  
The grunt didn’t say a word to her, even as Lillie turned and talked away whose knees buckled beneath her as she punched the ground, “Arceus damn it Daymond! Why the hell did you decide to become a good person now of all times! Why now?! None of this would have fucking happened if you just told us how you really felt about everything we did! We could have helped each other!!”  
Lillie could barely hear the employee cry in a mixture of frustration and sadness continuing to hit the ground as she and Snowy walked to their house on the shores.  
They were only a few yards away when Lillie realized how the redhead had been calling Emerald a he.  
Lillie didn’t question how she of all people knew Emerald’s gender she was a grunt.. but realized how right it sounded rather calling the creature an it.  
He..yes, for some reason it definitely sounded right to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Faba/Emerald: *breaks mug* "fff...f..uu..ck."  
> Lillie: "Noooo! Emerald who taught you that?! That's a bad word!!"  
> *Hint; It was Franchesa's bitch ass*
> 
> (PS: Because to me anyway getting 1000 hits on my story is an accomplishment I'll tell you a few fun facts about this story; Fist of all originally I wasn't going to post the story even when my friends were bugging me to and only did it because another one of friends betted I wouldn't and I posted the first few chapters in pure spite, I was also originally just going to write this story as a little one short ware Faba gets forcefully fused with a Nihilego, I really love writing for Malachite and Franchesca and write short scenes with them in it in another one of my notebooks and so far this story isn't even half done yet, but in my actual notebook I'm getting close to writing the ending and oh boy.. it hurt me just thinking about it. I also had no idea this many people who click on a fanfiction where Faba is the main star in a way, he's not exactly a fan favorite, so once again thank you, everyone, for reading!)


	19. And Then There Were Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lillie takes Emerald on a little walk and it goes about as well as you would expect it to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos! My readers hellos to you all!  
> As promised I have a nice long chapter for you all that was very exhilarating to write with the actual action I wrote in it!  
> I don't really have anything too important to announce or say expect in another few characters someone else we know will be showing up within a few chapters and I'm just a mere two or three scenes away from writing out this whole story in my journal.  
> I'm almost on page 420!! YAY!!  
> I'm not really sure what I'm going to do when I'm done... probably just write another fucked up story I'm brian storming, maybe post it if another one of my friends spites me to.  
> Anyways! I hope you enjoy this wonderful chapter and as always I apologize in advance for any spelling errors or improper sentence structure you will more than likely see!

Almost three whole days had passed since Lillie spent any real time with Emerald.   
The only exclusion being to bringing the creature some food every now and then.  
She hadn’t meant to wait so long to properly see the Ultra Beast, but thing after thing for her to do kept popping up; going on a sweep of the island with Kukui and Burnet yesterday, helping them put up the traps they had made the day previous to that, training with Snowy, fixing Emerald's mug and becoming constantly lost in her thoughts about it or him as the red-head had called the creature.  
Not just about his recent talking, but the strange Ultra Beast as a whole.   
Even after days of thinking about it, Lillie still hadn’t come to any satisfying conclusions behind why Emerald acted the way he did and how on earth the creature was able to talk and understand the things around him.   
The best things she could come up with was that Emerald had come from a world exactly like theirs and only acted the way he did and talked because all creatures from his world acted like that and had the ability to speak.   
The reason he might have recognized Wicke and Faba was because the creature might have owners that resembled them and lastly just scratched itself because of the abuse the foundation put him though.   
She had even gone the mile to read up on it recently and found out that sometimes abused Pokémon would hurt themselves whenever they grew stressed or nervous.   
Something in his reflection must have reminded him of a much darker time in his life, probably when he was trapped in the paradise.  
The other theory she had was a lot twisted, the thought that Aether Paradise must have conducted awful experiments on Emerald's mind to make him smarter and rewired his brian entirely to think in the same way as a human.   
To see their world in a way a person would and forcefully pumped different information into his head to make him understand how to move and even how to act as one.  
He probably only knew how to open things because the Foundation might have been testing the poor thing to do minor human motor skills.  
She didn’t like to think about that particular theory too much.  
It made her feel queasy and lose what little sliver of faith that hadn't yet recently drowned out in her mother ever getting better.  
She had thought at least her mother had stopped all those awful experiments or more made Faba stop conducting them.  
Hurting Emerald was one thing, but more experiments?!  
It meant everything she and Gladdion had done to try and reach her had all been for nothing and she hadn't even done as little as to learn how horrible it was to do such twisted experiments on another living thing.  
Both of the theories had their flaws and plot holes… such as if Emerald did have owners that just looked like Wicke and Faba why would he also recognize their names?  
And why did he try to stand on his back legs from time to time when he thought she wasn't watching?   
He obviously wasn’t built to stand like that and not only that but when the creature did eventually end up falling to the ground he looked so discouraged and confused as if Emerald truly thought that was the correct way for him to walk.   
It explained the second theory but didn’t fit with the first one and with the talking… if all his species could talk, why did the ultra beast sound like he was struggling horribly when he did so?  
And as for the second hypothesis she had… If Emerald had his mind experimented on why were there no surgical scars on his head of near his spine, and why would they put such useless details in its head such as what card were and how to pick up a mug? Why make him open aluminum cans of all things and not make him do bigger human motor functions like pulling around big objects?  
It also, unlike the other theory didn’t explain how he seemed to know Wicke.  
She sighed, hoping she would figure things out eventually about the creature.  
She just had to keep trying different things out with Emerald, it had only been about two weeks, after all, she was bound to find out more about him later on.  
She shook her head, squinting in the harsh moonlight and crawled through the entrance to the now-familiar cave with her Vulpix who eagerly ran over near the water as she shined the light to the floor.   
Not really needing to shine it around for the most part as the girl knew the cave's layout well enough by now.  
“H-Hey Emerald!” she called when the girl didn’t hear the click of his claws, “Come here, boy! I fixed your mug for you!”  
No reply, but in the distance she could hear the creature and Snowy’s high pitched whimpering.  
“Snowy? Emerald? are you two alright?” she asked, walking to the creature’s area to find him asleep under the blanket, twisting and shaking, ears ducked behind his head that was rapidly shaking.  
Poor Emerald was having another nightmare!  
“Emerald wake up! You're having a bad dream!” Lillie said as she shook the creature.  
“Vul Vulpix!” Snowy barked, shooting a small puff of frost at the ultra beasts face that caused the creature to jolt awake with a gasp and shove Lillie away with his claws.  
The blond stumbled back as Emerald scrambled further away from her on his back legs before losing his balance and falling to the floor, immediately attempting to clumsily move back on his rear and front legs only for them to slide out from under him.   
“Emerald It’s alright! Please don’t be scared!” Lillie tried to soothe him, but the creature didn’t calm as soon as her face came into his view he backed away until his rump hit the bolder and slowly curled into a fetal position with a terrified cry.   
“E-Emerald, please! I’m not my mother! Just look at me, look in my eyes!”  
At this, the ultra beast slowly looked up, meeting her gaze and shaking like a leaf.  
“It’s just me, you’re safe… I’m never going to hurt you, I promise.”  
“Vulpix,” Snowy whined in worry.  
Emerald shook his head and uncurled from his ball looking away from her than touching the side of his neck with his claws.  
“I’m really sorry I haven’t visited you in a while… I have no excuses, but I did manage to fix your mug when I was away, see!” she said pulling the cup out of her bag and holding it out to the beast.  
Emerald didn’t even look at it, staying in the same position.   
“Umm, Emerald?” she said, hesitantly touching him.   
The creature shook his head and lowered his claws, seemingly happy to get the mug as he took it and moved it to himself, but still seemed to be unhappy as he turned his back to her and buried his face in the Hypno’s plushies fur, whimpering softly, still clearly upset with both the dream and with her for being gone so long.   
“Vulpix!” Snowy whined rubbing her cheek against Emeralds, a similar action the Pokémon usually saved for when Lillie was the one waking up from a nightmare that was usually about the same person that Emerald most likely had been dreaming about.  
Lillie bit her lip, the growing feeling of guilt churning in her stomach.  
She really shouldn't have left the creature for so long, she could have made time, so what if he talked? Poor Emerald must have just thought she had left him alone for no reason.  
“Mother really hurt you didn’t she?” She asked using the same tone Burnet and Kukui would use to calm her down after a nightmare, “I’m… I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve everything that’s happened to you Emerald. You're such a good, kind ultra beast. She was in the wrong for hurting you like that.”  
The creature seemed to shutter, nuzzling the Hypno some more.  
“Y-you know… before you, I was looking after another Pokémon, I named it Nebby. Mother hurt the poor thing too.... She did these offal experiments on it in different attempts to open a wormhole for some other Ultra Beasts, really mean ones...  
I don’t understand why or how can she can just hurt things like that! She’s hurt so many Pokemon and people she claims that she loves, too many to count! I tried to tell her that it’s not right! That you don’t hurt the people or things you love, but she never listens! She... she even hurt me and my brother.”  
Snowy let out a soft growl at this.  
That finally got Emerald to look at her so she continued to speak, despite her disliking for talking about those miserable moments in her life that she hadn't even told Kukui and Burnet about.  
She swallowed the growing lump in her throat, “I remember one day… It was late at night and I was really hungry. Mother only gave us a certain amount a food a day and after that, we aren't allowed to eat anymore. My brother... he gave me some food he hid from earlier when I told him how hungry I was, but mother found out it and… made me sick it up.”  
The creature's head shot up at this clearly understanding the situation.  
Moving closer to her and gently nuzzled her hand with his beak, looking at her with wide, concerned eyes as Snowy snarled with rage, her white fur fluffing up.  
Lillie felt an odd mix of emotions at the memory.  
Her mother had always wanted them to be perfect back then, but based on the way her mother treated her and Gladion recently it was obvious she saw them both as anything, but perfect now.   
While she tried telling herself it didn’t matter what her mother thought anymore, she couldn't help but feel both sad and deep, deep down in a part of her she thought she shedding a little guilty for not being good enough for her.  
“It’s okay you two I’m fine now! I live with Kukui and Burnet now and they've never done anything like that to me! And besides, I don’t matter near as much as you Emerald or the other pokemon!”  
Emerald made a face and shook his head at her like he was telling her otherwise as Snowy too shook her head with a firm look on her face, clearly arguing that Lillie mattered too.   
“Oh! I know what will cheer us up! How about we go on a walk Emerald?” She urged at the two unsettled creatures, “You’ve been cooped up in this cave for a while and all the kahunas and volunteers are all on other islands and the islanders are still too scared to come out of their houses. Especially at night so I’m sure we won’t be spotted.”  
Emerald looked to the exit of the cave and shifted uncomfortably.  
“It’ll be fine I promise! No one is going to be out there and If they are me and Snowy will protect you!”  
“Vulpix!” they ice-type agreed confidently.  
Emerald whined still uncertain, Playing with his claws for a bit he finally rouse now standing on all fours, the twisted leg now fully healed.  
“Alright then! Just follow me okay?” She asked, turning her back on the creature she started to walk toward the exit.   
Emerald gave the plush Hypno a pat on its head and pushed the pamphlet under his towel before following behind.  
The blond gently pushing Snowy through the opening first, stopping by the hole with Emerald, “See anyone?” she whispered after a good minute of the Pokémon looking around.  
“Vulpix.” Snowy barked poking her head back in the opening and shook her head.  
“Come on Emerald!” She called to it as she crawled out.  
The scaly creature squeezed out, looking around the meadow curiously as he pulled up one of the many flowers out of the earth and sniffed it.  
“We can stay here if you want or we can walk a little on the routes, but we have to be really careful if we do… Maybe you could even show me where you found the Occa berries if it's not too far.”  
The creature grinned at this as he put the flower down, already moving to the exit of the meadow.  
Lillie quickly darted forward pushing the beast back as she looked around outside, still no one.  
“Okay, Emerald lead the way! Just be really careful and stay close!”  
The ultra beast gurgled and moved out of the meadow, passing for a moment to bask in the moonlight making a purring noise then walked down route three and into route two, near the Pokémon center where luckily no one was and sure enough, on the right under a large palm tree by the building was a small pile of various different berries including a few Occa berries which looked very out of place…  
“Oh! I didn’t know these were here! I guess we wondered right passed them, huh Snowy?”  
“Vul!” Snowy barked as she sniffed at the berries then looked to Emerald, now alarmed as the creature waged his tail, her head when whipping to she sky.  
Lillie followed her Pokémon’s gaze to see a large angry Skarmory swoop out of the sky dropping the Sitrus berries it was holding with its claws.  
Those berries must belong to the Skarmory! Lillie suddenly realized.  
They must have been collecting all of them and adding them to the pile it already had made already, that’s why all the berries were so different!  
Snowy, seeing the attack coming dodged it, but Emerald wasn’t so lucky as the steel types attack grazed his back.  
The creature cried out in pain and staggered back as the Skarmory flapped above them and squawked at them in warning, obviously telling them to go.  
“Sorry!” she said with a bow after seeing Emerald only revived a minor scratch from the bird, “We didn’t know they were yours! Don’t worry we’ll go now! Come on Emerald let's go back to the meadow. I can make you a flower crown!”  
The ultra beast glared at the Skarmory, less than happy from the attack he had received, sitting on the ground and looking directly into the bird's eyes as he picked up a Pecha barry from the pile and ate it almost seeming to smirk as he did so.   
“Emerald no! Bad!” Lillie yelled extremely surprised with him, Emerald could be a little picky and bratty from time to time but this was just downright cocky!  
The Skarmory shrieked in rage as it dived at the ultra beast, cutting his flank and this time drawing blood with its sharp feathers while also yanking roughly on one of Emerald's ears with its talons, causing another rip to form and red to trickle down his ear.  
The creature cried out in pain, his stingers unfolding from his sides, an almost arrogant look on his maw making sure she was watching as he swiped at the attacking Pokémon in a strange way almost like he was just copying another Pokémon with such force that it resulted in Emerald falling over, giving the Skarmory a perfect opportunity to dive at him again.  
“Hey leave Emerald alone! Snowy use powder snow!”  
“Vul!” Snowy barked jumping into the air and hitting the flying type with a blast of cold air and snow from her mouth before the attack could land.  
The Skarmony squawked, turning their attention to the Vulpix as they dived down at such speed Lillie didn’t have time to warn Snowy to doge as the hostile Pokémon swiped at Snowy with their sharp wing.  
Snowy flew a few feet with a cry and shakily got back to her paws, “Snowy use powder snow again!” She said, moving to stand in front of Emerald as the creature watched them fight with a guilty expression as he snarled at the steel type.  
The Skarmory flew away from the attack and swooped down again to hit Snowy with a nasty steel wing sending her partner flying again, this time taking a little longer to get to her paws, visibly swaying now.  
Those were super effective attacks! One more and poor Snowy might collapse!  
“Snowy!” she called, running forward and pulling the little fox Pokémon into her arms trying to protect her the best she could as Emerald whimpered scuttling closer to her and quick as a flash maneuvered half of his body in front of her before she could stop him in protest.  
“SKKKAAARRRRR!” the Skarmony cawed, swooping down at them about to deliver a possible brave bird, but before the hit could land she could hear footsteps along with the sounds of a heavy four-legged Pokémon rapidly approaching them.  
“Silvally use multi-attack!” she heard a familiar voice yell, looking to the Skarmory just in time to see a large chimera Pokémon leap onto the steel type and slash its front claws down their middle.  
“Multi-attack again! Get that damn Skarmory away from her!”  
Silvally obeyed its trainer's commands without hesitation, the now red feathers that were sticking out of the large crest on its head appearing to blaze, opening its mental jaws to loud, almost robotic cry, a few sparks of fire coming out as it clawed the Skarmory once more.  
The metal bird squawked in pain and gave them one last angry glare before they retreated into the sky.  
Lillie struggled to get her breath back, still clutching Snowy to her chest as Emerald slowly moved behind her, the girl not noticing as the ultra beast began to growl at Silvally and her brother.  
“Lillie what are you-” the boy paused in the middle of his sentence eyes widening when he saw what exactly was behind his sister.   
Silvally blinked at the scaled creature with a horribly confused look on its face as if the man-made creature had no idea what it was looking at.  
“Lillie… I need you to listen to me okay? The Fabeast is right behind you, so I need you to slowly walk over to me so I can get Silvally to land an attack on it.”  
“What?! No! Gladion it's not what you think! He’s really friendly I promise! I’ve been taking care of him for a while now and he hasn’t even given me a scratch!”  
“Wait you… you DID WHAT?! Lillie that thing almost killed five people! It placed them in the hospital for peat's sake! Are you seeing the look that thing is giving me?! It's even growing!”  
Lillie glanced at Emerald, the ultra beast looked angrier than Lillie had ever seen him.  
The creature ears were flattened against his head, his teeth were bared with every strand of fur was standing on end, his stingers unfolding again and its blue eyes glowing with a strange mix of hatred, fear, and confusion.  
“Emerald! Please calm down! Why are you so angry? It's only Gladion!”  
Saying her brother's name proved to be a mistake as the creature snarled loudly and stomped a set of claws on its back leg, stinking his head out from behind Lillie to glare at the boy.   
What was getting into him?!  
She had never seen him get near his worked up before! It was like seeing her brother made something in him snap!  
“Lillie I mean it! I don’t know or really care how that ultra beast was acting around you, but It’s acting aggressively now! So get away from it!”  
“Vulll..!” Snowy barked, managing to wiggle out of Lillie's arms and yapped in Emerald's face as the girl grabbed him by his neck and pulled him back behind her.  
“Stop it, Emerald! Stop! I don’t know why you're so angry all of a sudden, but you need to calm down! Gladion is a good person and won’t hurt you as long as you show him you're nice! I promise! Please… just calm down for me?” she asked doing her best to look into his eyes.  
The ultra beast meat her gaze and obeyed although the anger was still present in his eyes and he was still glaring.   
Snorting softly and calming down slightly as his growling quieted and stingers folded back up.   
Her sibling blinked in surprise, but his battle stance didn’t fall as Silvally’s head crest twitched, still looking at the ultra beast in confusion rather than looking even remotely battle-ready.  
“Ok… ok, It calmed down whatever! I still don’t trust that dumb thing it might bi-”  
At the word ‘dumb' Emerald darted past Lillie before she could grab him, running over to Gladion and Silvally, stoping a few mere feet in front of them to scream over and over again at them.  
Silvally instantly moved in front of its trainer with a growl and lowered its head.  
Gladion took a step back, muttering something about Emerald looking like a poison type before the blond pulled a yellow disk out of his pocket.  
“Silvally reject the fire memory that brought you flames and accept this ground memory to become one with the powers of the earth! Together we can take this thing down!!”  
“Gladion, no!” Lillie screamed as the metallic drive on the side of the chimeras head screwed out, the orange disk of the fire memory falling out and red feathers, eyes, and tail fin dulling to their normal color.  
The ground disk then went flying into the air as Gladion threw it at an angle, but before it could fall into place one of Emerald’s claws lashed out not to scratch her brother or Silvally, but to knock the ground memory out of the air, away from Gladions partner sending it tumbling to the ground and rolled out of reach in a grass patch.  
Lillie gaped at the creature.  
“What the!? How the hell does it know about the disks!?” Gladion spluttered sharing a baffled look with Silvally before he shook his head, “Ugh! That… that doesn’t matter right now! Silvally use X-Scissors!” He yelled, gripping his wrist tightly again as he curled up all the fingers in his hand.  
Emerald began to creep backward, more afraid than angry now, barely managing to move to the side as Silvally claws slashed down nothing but air.  
“X-Scissors again!” Gladion hollered ignoring his sister's pleas for him to stop.   
Emerald let out an unsure growl, still backing up, but now with his chest puffed out as if trying to intimidate Sivally as he stared at the chimera and made a few sharp, commanding growling noises as he raised a set of claws in a stopping motion.  
It, of course, didn’t work and Silvally tore its claws down the ultra beat.  
Emerald yelped, bleeding from the new wounds as he stumbled back and slammed into the bars of the Pokémon center then fell prone on his side.  
The beast flinched as Silvally towered over him and covered his scaley head with his front claws.  
“We’ve got it corned!” Gladion snarled, “Now let loose! Use another few X-Scissors!”  
The chimera was about to raise its talons when a beam of freezing cold that shot out from Snowys mouth hit Silvallys claws and stuck them to the floor in a block of ice.  
“Sorry Silvally,” Lillie apologized, and made her way over to Emerald only for Gladion to jump in front of her blocking her from the quivering ultra beast, “Lillie no, it’s dangerous!” He said as Silvally leaned down and snapped at the creature the best it could while stuck in the ice.  
By this point, Emerald was spooked enough shooting her a fearful look as he got up, bolted down route two and past the Pokémon center and further down route two then turning the corner out of sight.  
“Emerald come back! Don’t run away! I-I just need to explain everything to my brother! Come back please!” Lillie yelled, rushing forward to run after him when Gladion pulled her back.  
“Lillie! What was that for?!” he snapped, motioning at his partner who was in the process of trying to break the ice with the metal tip of its head crest, “You let it get away!”  
“This is the first time he’s acted this aggressive Gladion, I swear! He’s usually so sweet and gentle!”  
“Vulpix!” Snowy agreed, glaring at her brother and Silvally with an unamused look.   
The boy shook his head at his sister, “Look… I trust your judgment. I know what your thinking, but this creature isn’t at all like Nebby! It’s not small or helpless, it's bloodthirsty! You know how many people the other ultra beasts hurt, how many they killed and the way those Ultra Beasts killed those people... was horrible and those could be caught in pokeballs! I’m not letting this one get the chance to do that to you. Even if it is acting friendly with you, it could turn on you in a heartbeat! I’m not taking any kind of chance like that! I would never forgive myself if it hurt you!”  
He turned to his partner who had freed itself from the ice, “Come on Silvally let's finish that thing!”  
“Gladion I said stop it!” Lillie yelled, her anger rising at her brother's refusal to listen.  
Her brother turned to her and sighed, “Take your Vulpix to the Pokémon center and go home Lillie please, I’ll make it quick I....promise. I don’t… enjoy killing these things, but if I don’t, who knows what will happen, Silvally and I are the only ones who can do this,” he said grimly, picking up both disks from the ground and running off in the direction that Emerald fled with Silvally by his side.  
Lillie cried out in anger, kicking a small stone.  
Why wouldn’t Gladion just listen to her!?  
He was too stubborn for his own good to even hear out his own sister!  
“Vol?” Snowy whimpered and shook her head as she stared in the direction Gladion went.  
“Don’t worry Snowy! We’re not going home! We have to find Emerald before Gladion does! We have to protect him before something terrible happens! I’m sure we can try and talk to Gladion later!” she said determinedly.  
“Vulpix Vul!” Snowy agreed standing up tall, as determined to protect Emerald as her trainer was.

~

As soon as Lillie healed the ice type with the potions she had brought, the Vulpix instantly started to sniff at the ground where Emerald had last been and ran past the Pokémon center, all the way through route two and into Hau'oli city, luckily no one was around due to the threat of the ‘bloodthirsty ultra beast’.  
The Pokémon tracked Emerald all the way through the town, past the Pokémon school and the other Pokémon center.  
Lillie gazed sadly at Moon’s house when it eventually came into view.   
She already missed her friend so much…   
Back when she had left to fight other champions a large part of Lillie had wanted to follow her, but she wanted to make her own destiny not follow in the shadow of another even if it was Moon.   
She wanted to become her own person without her.   
That and she didn’t want to leave too far away from her mother.  
A part of Lille regretted the decision to stay in Alola especially after Hou went off to train, but being with Kukui and Burnet and finding Emerald made all those feelings go away.  
Reaching the beach where her house was not too far away, Snowy barked and pointed at claw-shaped dents in the sand and grass that lead to the side of a large cliff.  
“I think he might be in the cave Kukui talks about sometimes!”  
“Vulpix!” Snowy nodded running past all the tracks and pushed herself through a large boulder that was blocking the entrance to the cave, a few more scratch marks near the large rock.   
Lillie managed to get past the boulder almost immediately needing to duck as a Zubat swooped near her head from the ceiling of the cave with a poison fang aimed at none other than Emerald.  
A few more Zubats and Golbats attacking him as well as the creature struggled to doge and weakly clawed at the air.  
“Ahh! Not again! Snowy use powder snow!”  
The Vulpix obeyed, blasting the poison types with a large blast of ice as she growled angrily at them causing the flying types to screech and fly away to the back of the cave.  
“Are you okay Emerald? You got hit with a lot of attacks!” Lillie asked as she noticed the small amounts of blood dripping from his new wounds.   
Emerald shook his head and whimpered looking embarrassed as Lillie went over to the creature to patch up his wounds.  
“You just can’t stay out of trouble today, can you? You silly little ultra beast...” she asked softly, reminding her for a moment of all the incidents she experienced with Nebby who would constantly get out of the bag and cause mischief, gently petting the creature's head and already started pulling out a few potions as Snowy licked at one of the ultra beast cuts on his leg.   
Emerald hung his head flinching when she sprayed the super potions on its injuries, opening his maw and looked at her in for a moment making a small gurgle like he was trying to defend himself.  
“No, Emerald you shouldn't have teased that Skarmory, those were their berries we didn’t have a right to take them! And you shouldn't have growled at Gladion like that.”  
Emerald growled at the name, scowling now.  
“He’s a good person Emerald! I know you're just probably scared… but can you please give him a chance? I’m sure I can convince him your not mean... You're a lot more like Silvally then Nebby after all, please just stop growing at him and acting so umm... bold and...arrogant in general, you’re really starting to scare me. You’ve never acted like that before you could have been really hurt!” she said bandaging they deepest of the wounds.   
Emerald lowered his head, looking shameful now, “S..sss...sorrrrhh..heh.”  
The girl felt a chill go up her spine at the word, but forced away any unease she felt, “I forgive you Emerald, just don’t do it again, okay?”  
Behind her, Lillie could hear a few large rocks fall to the ground and she turned to see her brother standing there, “Holy shit… it talked!” he exclaimed as Silvally struggled to get in the opening, looking confused, but growling lowly as it entered.  
Gladion motioned for the chimera to stop before slowly approaching the two.  
Emerald bristled in anger, but he didn’t growl.   
“Ya… he does that,” Lillie said in a soft, but angry tone while moving in front of the ultra beast as did snowy who barked a few times and scratched at the dirt as she was a Tauros ready to change.  
“He? Everyone's been saying its an it just like the other ultra beasts…”  
“Well… umm I ran into an Aether employee a few days ago and she called Emerald a he and It just sounded right. He's not like the other ultra beasts Gladion! When I first saw him he ran away from me! He even understands me when I talk to him! What kind of Ultra Beast understands human speech?!”   
Her brother's face twisted in confusion, “Even if it does understand, that thing still ripped that employee and four other innocent people to shreds! So just move Lillie! Don’t make this harder than it already is! I told you, I don't have a choice!”  
Silvally sniffed behind Gladion stopping its growling as it gazed intently at Emerald like the chimera was trying to figure him out.  
“He was scared Gladion! Didn’t you say Silvally hurt some employees at Aether Paradise because they were hurting it? That They treated it like a tool! About how scared it was!? And about how the poor thing just lashed out when it hurt them?! Didn’t it even claw you a few times right after you rescued it?!”  
Silvally recoiled a little at her words and looked away.  
Gladion frowned and pat his partner's back, “That… Lillie that's completely diff-”  
“No its not! They were both scared and hurt and they both lashed out and hurt people because of that, how is that different?! There is something off about Emerald Gladion. Like I said he can understand me and read, and he recognized Faba and Wicke in a photo-”  
Emerald instantly looked to her at the names.  
“The poor thing even started to rip off his scales when he saw his reflection! Mother… Aether… they really hurt him. Their hurting another creature again... I don’t want Emerald any other creature to be hurt again… Not by them and not by you, that's why I'm protecting him… so if you even try and attack him you're going to have to go through me and Snowy first!!”  
“Vul!! Vulpix!! VUL!!” Snowy snarled, baring her teeth.   
From behind her Emerald looked up at her and blinked whining at he curled a little around her like when the Skarmory attacked, the poor thing didn’t want her to get hurt.  
The blond boy sighed and rubbed his forehead, his gaze switching to Slivally who was oddly calm for being so close to an Ultra Beast that it was made to destroy and Lillie with her eyes ablaze with protectiveness.  
“It... I mean he’s really never hurt you not even once?”  
“The worst he's done is rip up some of my cards and take the tomatoes off my sandwich.”  
Emerald whined, the emotion of embarrassment flashed in his eyes as he croaked out of sounding apologies once again.  
The boy stiffened at the noise as Silvally cocked its head a few times head crest moving up and down, “Arceus that thing… he really can understand you… but that… none of what you said makes any sense.. he’s an Ultra Beast! I’ve hunted tons of them down and captured them, and not one of them has acted anything like this or even tried to get anywhere beer the disks!”  
Lillie chuckled that sounded somewhat bitter and pet the creature's head, “Ya… most things about him don’t.”  
Finally, Gladion caved, “Okay, you know what? Fine. I won’t hurt him, but if that thing lays a claw on you I'm ending him with no hesitation.”  
“You do and I’ll never forgive you,” Lillie said bluntly.  
That made her brother wince, “Alright! Alright... I won’t hurt him… Come on Silvally back in your ball, don’t worry-”   
The chimera shook its head before Gladion could take out its Pokeball, his partner roughly shaking its head still gazing at Emerald.   
“Okay just, you know don’t do anything to it…” Gladion huffed.  
Silvally nodded, and Snowy, Lillie and Emerald tensed at the chimera at it slowly padded over to them and gave the Ultra Beast a few sniffs and cocked its head again, then putting a claw on Emerald and peaking at his tail  
Snowy growled at Silvally as Emerald moved away from the chimera.  
“Down Silvally.” the blond boy told his partner firmly a confused look on his face about why his partner seemed so baffled by the creature, “So Lillie, I want you to tell me everything about this Ultra Beast and how it acts, how you found it and everything. You’re right when you said all the things you mention are weird, especially the part about him recognizing Wicke, she quit...it's weird. I still don’t trust that thing, but if you're so determined to help it, I guess I’ll help it too.”  
Lillie relaxed a little and gave Snowy a few calming pets as the Vulpix continued to glare at Silvally, “Okay… I’ll start at the beginning, but you should probably sit down this is going to take a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gladion: "Hey Lillie how are you-"  
> Faba/Emerald: *Snarls and growls at*  
> Gladion: "AHHH! Lillie!? Get your fucking ultra beast away from me!!"  
> Lillie: "Gladion he doesn't bite!!"  
> Gladion: "YES IT DO, GET IT AWAY!"


	20. Creature Features

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lillie calls for backup and old rivalries eco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos!  
> Once again I have returned to all of you with a brand new chapter!!  
> Unfortunately, this chapter is slow and the plot doesn't really move along in the slightest, but the next one definitely will and we'll see two returning characters!  
> Also depending on when it's done, In the next chapter or two all of you will be getting a nice little gift of sorts.  
> Anyways I don't really have anything else to say but that I really hope you enjoy this chapter slow or not and apologize for any spelling or incorrect sentence structure you will probably see.

“All this really is a lot,” Gladion said to Lillie once she finished telling her tale, his brow furrowed in thought.  
“I know it is, I hardly understand any of it myself, so what do you think Gladion? You know Silvally really well, do you think he's really an Ultra Beast or more like Silvally?”  
The blond boys eyes turned to his partner who currently was whining in distress as Emerald once again leaned over the box of cookies he was currently eating from with a small growl, as if he was protecting the most precious of treasures, eating one from the box and giving another to Snowy who sat beside the beast.  
There was still no aggression in Silvally’s eyes toward the creature, even as it growled at it.  
It just pawed at the cave floor with one of its talons and stared down hungrily at the treats.  
A bit a drool dripping from the beast killers beak.  
“I’m not sure Lillie, that thing looks like he could only be one or two types, but that doesn’t mean he wasn't created ...Arghh! I don’t know anything for sure though, this thing doesn't make any sense!”  
Lillie opened her mouth to speak but paused for a moment and turned to the ultra beast.  
“H-hey! It won’t hurt to share Emerald! There are enough cookies for you, Snowy and Silvally all have to eat!” she said sternly to the creature who just made a face and whined as Lillie turned back to Gladion with a sigh, “I think… we need to get some help with this Gladion. We can’t do something like this all alone again. You know how that almost went with Nebby before we got Moon and Hou's help.”  
“Do you want to tell the professors?” the boy asked warily.  
Lillie shook her head, “I do, but I won’t. I don’t want to get them involved like last time. They've already been through enough trouble because of me, they don’t deserve to get caught up in things involving mother again.”  
Gladion frowned at his sister's words but made no real argument as Silvally continued to whine over the hoarded cookies when Emerald refused to share them despite what Lillie had commanded.  
“Wicke then?” Gladion asked making Emerald’s head perk up giving Silvally enough time to snatch a cookie and gobble it up with a happy thrill.  
Snowy growled at the chimera, but Emerald just continued to gaze intently at the two blonds.  
“Didn't you mention a while back that you had her number? Doesn't she work with Burnet now or something?”  
“Ya, she does, we even talk sometimes!”  
“Call her and tell her to come over. If Emerald recognizes her it's near impossible he never interacted with her. Even if Wicke didn’t mention anything about a new creation or ultra beast, Mother might have threatened her to stay quiet or even erased some of her memories. You know she wouldn’t have hesitated to make Faba do it.”  
Lillie lifted her head, “But.. their friends aren't they? He might have hurt Pokémon, but do you... really think he would go something like that to her? He didn't erase any of her other memories about the foundations when mother told him too when she was fired! Mrs. Wicke said Mr. Faba just made her pretended!”  
Gladion looked a tad surprised at this, but quickly snorted and shook his head, "well that's good I guess.. I thought she got away before he did it, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have erased everything about Emerald, It might have been so confidential and the abuse so bad that when she threatened to speak out or just got really pissed at him, he thought it would just be easier just to erase everything than deal with it, the sick bastard..."  
"Maybe." Lillie murmured looking unsure, "even if she did forget all about Emelaed except what the papers say... I think she would definitely help us when we tell her how nice Emerald is! I think he’ll even end up liking her and become friends! Umm, do you want me to tell her just to come to Melemele island?”  
Gladion nodded, “We can leave all the complicated stuff for tomorrow, we don’t want to blow her mind this late at night.”  
The blond girl chuckled and searched her bag for her phone as Emerald continued to stare at her, whining as the girl stood up to make the call abandoning his cookies.  
“Hey! Come back over here!” Gladion said with a sharp whistle, but the ultra beast just continued to stare at the phone ears perking up as Wicke must just have picked up.  
“Lillie? Well, this is currently a surprise!” Wicke said from the other side.  
Lillie smiled, “Hello again Ms. Wicke! Sorry for calling you so late but Gladion and I really need you to come over to Melemele island whenever you can get off work please.”  
Down on the ground Emerald's tail instantly started to wag, gurgling happily as he started to jump in the air.  
“Gladions there too? I haven't seen him in ages! Of course, I’ll come down Lillie! I even have the day off tomorrow! I’ll be there In the morning alright dear? You can meet me at the hotel on route three!”  
“Oh, really that soon? Great! There's… something we need to talk to you about!” the girl said happily gently pushing Emerald away as the creature started to jump near her phone his happy gurgling getting so loud they were in danger of Wicke overhearing him. His tail still wagging from left to right to the point where it was only a blur of colors, a gleam of joy in his eyes at the woman’s voice.  
“Hey, you stupi-stop it! Look! Cookies! You like theses right, you spoiled thing?” Gladion hissed angrily to him, taking the box that Silvally was currently eating out of and shaking it as Snowy barked unhappy at him, “Come over here and I’ll give you some!”  
Emerald didn’t seem to care about the treats for once and continued to joyfully jump around with a large grin on his maw.  
“It’ll be so great to see you two again I've missed you both so much… oh and Lillie what was that? Did Kukui get a new Pokémon?”  
“Umm kind of… the new Pokémon is super hyper today… In fact, I kind of need to calm him down before he breaks something!”  
“Well, you do that then Lillie! I’ll see you and Gladion tomorrow! Goodbye for now!”  
“Bye!” Lillie said then quickly hung up and frowned at Emerald who’s happiness diminished as soon as Lillie put her phone back in the bag, looking quite sad now as he started to pull at her bag for her phone, his tail sopping it’s wagging completely and smile falling off his face.  
It seemed the beast already missed Wicke’s company despite it only being her voice.  
“Emerald!” she scolded him, “She could have heard you! We don’t want her to know about you yet!”  
Gladion raised at eyebrow and shook his head, “I'm definitely going to have to help you train that thing better. We can’t have him running around like Nebby did. He could be a decent fighter with lots of discipline.”  
“He’s usually not this bad, I think he just wants to see Ms. Wicke is that it boy? Don’t worry you’ll see her tomorrow! Then you can jump around her all you want! I just know she'll love you!  
Emerald's tail began to wag again at this making Gladion wonder why the strange beast seemed to like the woman so much, just because she treated it nicely?  
It was Wicke after all, he had no doubts that she didn’t.  
The beast smiled weakly Lillie as Gladion moved the cookie box away from Silvally, “No, no more you’ve had plenty, I don’t want you getting as spoiled as that whiny thing!” the boy said pointing at Emerald.  
“Anyways Gladion! Ms. Wicke said we can meet her by the hotel on route three,” Lillie said calmly, giving the ultra beast a warning look as he growled softly at her brother's words.  
“That was fast,” Gladion remarked, eating one of the cookies himself as his partner seemed to pout, still eyeing the treats.  
Lillie smiled, “She said she misses us.”  
Gladion nearly choked on his cookie then looked away nonchalantly, R-right.” he managed to say once he swallowed and glared at Emerald as he made an odd huffing sound at the boy like he was laughing.  
They were quiet for a moment with Gladion staring intently at Emerald with narrowed eyes before eventually speaking, “It’s pretty late now, Lillie you should probably go home and try and get some sleep, something tells me tomorrow is going to be a long day.”  
Snowy glared at the boy, suspicious of him as Emerald whined sadly.  
Lillie blinked, “But what about you Gladion? You’re saying that like you just expect me to sleep in a cave! You can sleep on the couch! Professor Burnet and Kukui won’t mind.”  
The boy shifted uncomfortably, “I’d rather not… I don’t want to invade and besides someone needs to watch the ultra beast.”  
Silvally cocked its head at this and looked around in confusion.  
“You wouldn’t be a bother!” Lillie told him firmly as Snowy snorted at this and went over to Emerald to nuzzle the creature who was once again upset over the mention of the Vulpix and Lillie departure, “and Emerald doesn’t need to be watched! He might be a little disobedient, but every time I’ve told him to stay in a cave he does!”  
“It's fine Lillie me and Silvally can stay here for the night, we’ve slept in worse places for longer.”  
Lillie frowned and picked up Snowy from the ground, “Vul!” she barked at Emerald who whined in reply before turning to Silvally with a death glare, “Vul Vulpix vulpix vulpix!” she growled whatever she happened to say causing the man-made Pokémon to look taken back and wary as it bowed its feathery head In a nod.  
“Do you want me to get you any blankets?”  
“No, I already have one.”  
“Alright, but if you change your mind you can come inside and also ...don't be mean to Emerald!”  
“I won’t, this thing might even be like Silvally… I won’t hurt him as long as he keeps his claws to himself.”  
Emerald glared at Gladion as Lillie turned her attention to him, “That goes for you too Emerald! Don’t give Gladion and Silvally a hard time or growl at them.” she told the creature and gently pat his head with her free hand.  
“Thanks for hearing me out Gladion…” she said after a few moments of petting, I know you still don’t trust Emerald, so thank you for helping me help him.”  
“You’re welcome, just try and get some sleep tonight Lillie, you look tired.”  
“You need to try too Gladion, you don’t look good either.”  
“When have I ever looked well-rested?” Gladion sniffed, crossing his arms.  
Lillie sighed, her brother could be so annoying when he got like this, “Just try and sleep, If you are so determined to take care of me you need to take care of yourself too.”  
Her brother didn’t respond to that as the girl shook her head at how hard-headed her brother could be, giving Emerald then Silvally one last pat on the head before the blond left the cave with Snowy forcing herself not to worry too much about her brother and Emerald being alone together.  
~  
As soon as Gladion was sure Lillie was gone he turned to the ultra beast, “Okay look here Emerald or Fabeast or whatever the hell you are. I know you're intelligent enough to understand me so I want you to listen up!”  
Emerald looked more annoyed than anything until Silvally went up to the ultra beast eyeing and sniffing him again making the creature whine and move back uncomfortably.  
“I don’t trust you.” he started not caring about the ultra beast’s clear discomfort, “You might be like Silvally, but I don’t trust you. I don’t know why, but there's something about you… I just don’t like."  
Emerald glared weakly at him and scuttled to Gladion's other side when his partner went over to him again and moved his tail with a set of its claws.  
“Quit looking at me like that! You're the one who growled at me and Silvally first. Why did you even do that!?”  
The creatures glare softened, replaced with confusion like the ultra beast really didn’t know.  
Gladion groaned and yanked a beast ball out of his pocket.  
He knew what the news and Kahunas said about him being uncatchable, but he wanted to see it for himself.  
“Let’s see if you really can’t be caught or not,” he muttered.  
The beast flinched a little at Gladion as he gently tapped him with the front of the ball causing it to open, but not suck Emerald inside.  
Huh, so it was true then, he half suspected it was false new created by Aether so other trainers would stop trying to catch the creature for themselves.  
Or because he was specifically designed by Aether Paradise to be that way...  
Thinking more on this the boy put the ball back in his bag then pulled Silvallys water type disk out of his pocket.  
Silvally blinked at its trainer but made no move to go over to Gladion when the boy didn’t call to it.  
“You don’t seem to like Silvally, and you seemed to know what these are… Is it possible you have a type changer to?”  
Emerald's glare turned almost into a sneer at the sight of the disk that Gladion swore looked familiar as the boy got closer to the beast, no type changer from what he could see, but there were a few strange things about how Emerald’s limbs were shaped.  
“H-hey bad!” the blond boy exclaimed as the ultra beast suddenly smacked the disk out of his hand.  
Silvally snorted in the background, giving the scaly creature a warring look as Gladion rushed over to the fallen disk, checking it over for any dents or cracks.  
Upon finding none he glared at Emerald who stuck his muzzle in the air, “You’re so obnoxious you know that!? I don’t know how Lillie dealt with you!”  
Emerald flinched at his tone causing Gladion to soften slightly, even if he was annoying he needed to remember the poor creature had been abused by the foundations..  
“Look like I said I don’t like you, but my sister seems to like you a lot for some reason. Silvally and I aren't going to hurt you unless you hurt any of us? Am I clear?”  
Emerald just gurgled softly and glanced nervously at Silvally.  
“Okay now, I’m going to examine your body a little, you have a weird structure, maybe something will give me some answers to what exactly you are.”  
The creature bared his teeth and growled softly as Gladion moved his hand to touch one of his ears.  
“No! Keep doing that and I’m going to tell my sister you were doing the one thing she told you not to do!” he snapped before Silvally could growl back.  
Emerald instantly stopped his growling and tensed up as Gladion placed a handful of cookies by him, “There you whiny little thing. You can even eat these.” he said, moving his hand down the scales on the unbandaged parts of his back.  
The first thing he noticed was that they were smooth, extremely smooth, almost new feeling even with all the new more shallow cuts and bruises he got today.  
Gladion frowned and touched the creature's mane.  
Like the scales, it felt overly soft like it was new, except for the tip of blond fur on his chin that felt rougher.  
More like hair than fur.  
Both features made Gladion wonder it's real age.  
Could Emerald be some kind of new hatchling? A baby of sorts?  
He was pretty damn smart if he was… either that or he was a very new creation of the Foundations, thinking back on how soft Silvally’s fur had been when he had been allowed to touch it a few weeks after its creation.  
Strapped to a table with tubes shoved down its throat unknowing to the abuse it would soon suffer under Faba and the other's hands.  
To the point where it would be frozen and locked away forever if it weren't for him or more for a kind scientist named Malachite actually managing to give him a Pokéball containing the then Type: Null and even providing him a way off Aether.  
Gladion sucked in a breath continuing to scan his body as Emerald slowly nibbled on the treats, body still stiff as he mentally flipped through all the Pokémon that had parts that somewhat resembled some of the beast's features.  
The teeth looked slightly similar to a Serviper’s fangs, the fur on his neck looked a little like a half-done mane of a Pyroar or maybe a Hypno, and its stingers a tad like the legs of an Ariados and wait… were their only five?  
Gladion’s gut turned as Silvally made a sympathetic thrill as it spotted the same thing, slowly walking over and snifing at the remains of the sixth stinger.  
Emerald tensed even more as Gladion pat the creature and shook his head, “Calm down you big baby Silvally’s not going to do anything.” he told it as the chimera laid down next to the ultra beast and thrilled again, grinning at Emerald, its head crest flapping up and down and fishtail waging in a friendly gesture.  
Emerald just looked away and pulled the rest of the cookies closer to himself which Gladion found rude as his Pokémon was just trying to be friendly when it didn’t have to be.  
Arrogant thing…  
Ignoring the two he studied Emerald some more and curiously moved over to the beasts back legs.  
Lillie had been insistent on calling Emerald a he… but was it really a he?  
If Emerald was an Ultra Beasts or even a creation ‘he’ might not even have a gender Silvally and Nebby were genderless after all maybe the employee Lillie was talking about just up and decided to call him by one.  
Looking closer into a shaded area between his legs Gladion squinted only for Emerald to snarl in anger and annoyance, quickly moving his legs to cover that area and glaring at Gladion even harder to point where it looks could kill Gladion would have died right there and then.  
So much for that, even if Lillie told the creture, not to Gladion had a feeling Emerald would try and bite his hand off if he tried to do that again.  
Guess the thing had some kind of decency in that regard.  
He frounded, just more weirdly human action just to confuse Gladion...  
Other than that he found nothing else that looked like parts of other Pokémon.  
Even the things he already found were a bit of a stretch.  
All of his parts of his body were so off and different to place.  
He might just be grasping at invisable sttings..  
Then… if it didn’t have any parts of other Pokémon and wasn’t man-made why did its fur feel so new, besides the possibility of him being a baby?  
And why the hell was Silvally so docile around him?  
It was straight up vicious around all the other ultra beasts, even if he might be a hatchling.  
It didn’t make any damn sense especially when concerning the disks!  
Did they train him to do that? Did Faba?  
Possibly to battle against Silvally? But why?  
And why this creature of all things?  
Even if he had hurt people he and Silvally had managed to send him fleeing extremely easily without Emerald landing a scratch on Silvally.  
It was almost as if he didn’t know any moves at all.  
Gladion wanted to bash his head open on the floor, it felt like he was missing a large piece of a complex jigsaw… there had to be at least one thing on him that would give Gladion more of a hint to what he really was.  
Desperate for some kind of answer he waited for the creature to swallow the cookie he was currently eating before he forcefully pryed opened Emerald's mouth despite the creature's protest.  
“Don’t bite me,” he warned it, ignoring Silvallys odd look.  
He didn’t see anything too strange in the creature's mouth for a moment just a long serpent tongue.  
It wasn't until he looked at Emerald's other teeth that were hidden by his beak, that caused him to gape.  
Minus the sharp canines, he was no dentist but all the other teeth in his mouth looked human in shape and size.  
Now that was weird, with such a sharp beak and those fangs why would he need more teeth, especially teeth like that.  
Unsettled, Gladion let the ultra beast close his mouth, the creature staring at him like he was a weirdo as the boy gazed down at Emerald's claws.  
Now that his mind was on it, the beast's front claws looked a lot more like scaled covered, clawed human hands than any type of dragon type claws.  
He hadn’t been paying much attention when the beast had been grabbing his food, but now… he watched the creature move his claws closely as he picked up a cookie and shoved it into his beak, all his claws were strangely flexible especially the claw that was away from the others that almost looked like a… thumb.  
He had never seen a Pokémon with claws like that before.  
Much less a Pokémon with a finger that looked even closely related to a human thumb  
Gladion huffed in frustration and he swore Emerald rolled his eyes at him as the boy struggled to look into the ultra beasts eyes.  
Emerald snorted and after a few moments stared right back making Gladion realized fully what Lillie met about them looking human.  
Emerald’s pupil may have been split and didn’t resemble the textbook picture of a human eye, but unlike all the ultra beast Gladion had come across Emerld’s eyes were flickering with human emotions and feelings.  
He supposed that was one of the reasons he refused to listen to Lillie earlier was because Emeralds eyes at the moment had been filled with hate, and that hate chilled Gladden to the bone and for some reason sparked at a wave of anger that hadn’t flared at him since at specific part of the battle at Aether with Moon.  
“Emerald do you know what you are? You're really freaky looking you know that? Like some kind of ugly abomination of mothers twisted fantasy’s made into a reality. Really what the hell are you?”  
He expected the creature to get angry, but instead, his ears drooped and he whined sadly staring down at one of his claws in an almost self continuous way as he trembled softly, “Rrrr..rrrro..uuuu...nn.nnn.ggg” he uttered, that Gladion could barely understand  
The sound or more word making the boy scoot back from him.  
It sounded even more distorted than when he apologized to Lillie.  
He didn't know Emerald could say anything else than that.  
Wrong… he had called himself wrong.  
The boy thought for a moment how Lillie had spoken to him about the creature ripping his scales off.  
He didn’t exactly know what this meant, but the implications unsettled him.  
Pokémon and ultra beasts don't just hurt themselves like that and they currently didn't think of themselves as wrong. Why would they?  
The creature continued to babble this word to Gladion’s discomfort rapidly shaking his head with wide eyes.  
Had he… triggered something? He hadn’t even said anything that bad!  
Crap, Lillie was going to kill him!  
Before he could possibly try and consol the creature Silvally made a soft chirp like noise, lowering its head and carfully moved even closer to the ultra beast to run its metal beak through Emerald's mane.  
The creature froze and Gladion was afraid for a moment he would start snapping at Silvally, but to his relief after a few moments, Emerald stopped his ‘talking’ and slowly relaxed.  
He must like getting his fur combed or something...  
“It's fine… I'm sure Wicke can help us figure it out in the morning,” he muttered after the creature had calmed completely, “For now I guess we should get some sleep or Lillie will have my head.” Silvally nodded and moved to lay closer to Gladion pausing when Emerald gurgled to get its attention, hesitatingly holding out a single cookie to it in its claws.  
Both Gladion and Silvaly blinked in surprise, Silvally thrilling happily as it took the treat and laid against Gladion as it gobbled it up.  
This ultra beast really was strange…  
Pulling out his rather small blanket Gladion was about to lay down as well when he noticed the ultra beast was noticeably shivering, pacing around the cave and looking around in confusion as if looking for something before its head turned to the exit and whined unhappily.  
Was it cold or still just freaked out?  
It was pretty chilly tonight…  
He glanced at his partner who thrilled and motioned its head at the ultra beast.  
Gladion snorted dramatically and chucked the blanket over to the creature, causing it to cover its head.  
Emerald peeked his head out of the blue blanket, sighing as he laid down and covered himself more properly.  
“You’re welcome,” he growled, curling closer to Silvally for warmth as the creature turned his back to the boy.  
His partner thrilled softly and ran its beak through his hair, “Shut up I'm not soft! Lillie would have just been mad at me if the annoying thing got cold.”  
Silvally only thrilled again and rested its head on the floor.  
Gladion sighed, finally closed his eyes then let the breathing of his partner eventually pull him into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gladion: "WHY CANT YOU JUST BE FUCKING NORMAL?!"  
> Faba/Emerald: *hideous screeching.*


	21. Reunions Of Pink And Ocean Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gladion runs into a familiar face and Wicke meets Emerald.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heolls everyone!  
> Hellos! Hellos! Sorry, you had to wait so long for an update, but this chapters a big ass boy.  
> The next one won't be as long, but it will be pretty exciting, I'll give you that.  
> I'm very excited to write it which sadly might take a while because I'm behind on school shit.  
> Anyhow, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and as always I apologize in advance for my shitty spelling and horrible sentence structure.

The sun beat down on Gladion and Lillie as the two siblings walked through the mostly empty town street of Hau’oli City.  
The only few people that happened to be around were moving in a hurry too and fro with visible fear on their faces.  
Gladion squinted at the bright sky and wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand.  
“For the last time Gladion I’m not going to make Emerald eat Pokémon food, he doesn’t like it!” Lillie snapped defensively.  
The boy rolled his eyes at her, “That thing is so damn picky, you would think after being stuck in Aether he would be more grateful for any food he’s given and have actual manors!”  
“I’m sure it’s a good thing Gladion! He used to flinch whenever he acted like that. He trusts me not to hurt him now! I see it as an accomplishment! Even If it does make him act a little bratty.”  
“That’s putting it lightly, he spat at me this morning Lillie! And he keeps giving me this weird sneer. He even rolled his eyes at me! The thing is downright arrogant! It’s like he thinks he's better than me!”  
“Oh, Gladion I’m sure it’s nothing personal, you must look like someone he doesn’t like.”  
Gladion scowled, but before he spoke again the two spotted a familiar blue-green haired figure walking a little ways down the street to their left followed closely by two Aether grunts.  
All three of them having what looked like malasadas in their hands, looking very pleased with themselves, probably because with so few people around they most likely got the treats for a good bargain.  
“Malachite?” he called out loud enough for the man to hear him.  
Malachite turned to him, his ocean eyes met green, “Gladion?”  
Lillie tensed as the man and employees approached.  
“Don’t worry Lillie its the guy I told you about that helped me get off the Foundation. He’s definitely the best person we could have run into,” Gladion tried to reassure her.  
Lillie stared at the man for a moment, “Is he… wearing a Branch Chief uniform?”  
Gladion scanned the man’s outfit, eyes widening in surprise, he was!  
The last time he saw Malachite was when he was substituting for his mother the man had been a scientist, but now he bore the coat of a Branch Chief.  
Complete with gloves, pants, and shoes the only small differences being that all the greens had been on Fabas clothes were now a royal blue, and that the cuffs of his gloves and heels were shorter.  
His long lab coat was open revealing a simple dark blue shirt.  
Malachite must be Branch Chief now!  
Did… Faba get demoted or something?  
It wouldn't be too surprising, the man was probably doing something shady without his mother’s approval again and had been caugh.  
A demotion would be long overdue for Faba.  
“Greetings Malachite,” he said politely, taking note of the tired almost dead look in his eyes, “It’s nice to see you again, How have you been since I left the Foundation? I see you’re a Branch Chief now.”  
Malachite smiled weakly, “I’m glad you noticed.” he said pulling at the elegant collar of his coat that was currently flopped over as the two grunts, a small tan female and a much taller woman with short pink hair gave their boss a weird look at his friendliness with the president’s son, “No one else has mentioned it yet.”  
“I didn’t know you were made Branch Chief Mr. Malachite… it didn’t say anything about it in the papers.” Lillie said softly.  
The man shrugged, “I’m not surprised, your mother has never been all too vocal with the media unless she can gain something from it.”  
Gladion snorted, “That couldn’t be any truer… well, good job becoming Branch Chief the outfit looks good on you. You definitely deserve the position more than Faba. What the hell happened to him anyway? Did mother find out about his blog and finally demote his sorry behind?”  
“Or, did mother fire him?” Lillie asked with wide eyes.  
Malachite’s lips twitched as if fighting a smile, something dark and twisted glinting in his eyes as he took a small bite of his malasada, “Oh no, he quit a little more than a month ago.”  
Both siblings looked visibly surprised, “Quit? Faba quit? You’re sure were talking about the same guy?”  
“That doesn’t really sound like him…” Lillie added.  
Malachite snorted, “Yup, same visor wearing ekans. I don’t really know or care why he did, but I say goodr-”  
“People said it was because the President was acting really weird around him sir! I thought you knew that!” The pink-haired women chimed in.  
Malachite gave the women an uncharacteristic glare, a very harsh and mean one that Gladion had only seen him use before on Faba that made the grunt look away and take a large bite of her own food.  
“I doubt It was only because of that.” The ocean eyed man said coldly, “like I said I don’t know the full story. You really shouldn’t listen to gossip Clare, too much of it has been going around lately especially concerning the Fabeast. Speaking of the creature, have you two seen It? The President has been really up my- I mean on me to find this new ultra beast of hers.”  
“Sorry Malachite, I’ve been looking for the dumb thing myself and haven’t seen a trace of it.”  
“That’s what I thought, barely anyone has seen the ugly thing. I just want to find it… and get it back to the presdent.. give it more training sessions..” Malachite sniffed anger and disappointment creeping in his voice, sticking his hand into his lab coat appearing to fiddle with something as he released a small sigh, “Well… come on then Clare, Alice, let’s finish sweeping the island or at this rate, we’ll be here all night and never get to the other islands,” he said turning to the grunts who both nodded back to him, “I’m afraid this is goodbye, for now, you two. Stay safe alright? I’m sure you can handle yourselves, but just remember this thing is dangerous regardless of what Lusamine said, and if you do see it come and get me. I’ll take care of everything.” he told them another odd glint growing in his eyes.  
“Right… We’ll be sure to do that.” Gladion said tightly, definitely not liking the odd, yet cold look in Malachite’s eyes.  
A look he usually only found in mother's eyes whenever she was putting up an act for other people and trying to hide her deadly rage that was bubbling just under the surface.  
There was something restrained in there.  
Something hidden and full of malice wanting desperately to be freed from its cage, “hopefully we can talk more later, I can tell you more about how I caught the other ultra beasts. Good luck in finding the Fabeast Branch Chief Malachite, give mother our love when you get back to the Foundation will you?” Gladion asked sarcastically.  
Malachite snorted, “Of course I will, I might even give her a kiss for you if I’m feeling up to it.”  
“You’re going to lose your lips, no cross that out you’re going to die if you do that, which is a shame because out of all the employees I despise you the least.” Gladion shot back teasingly.  
“Please don’t,” sighed Lillie with a shake of her head.  
Malachite flashed them one last smile, that Gladion could tell was fake, “Don’t worry, my death wish isn’t that high today. I still gotta catch the Fabeast before I even think about sleeping six feet under, anyways it was nice talking to you Gladion, you as well Ms. Lillie.”  
“You too,” muttered Lillie, Gladion merely waving as the man motioned for the employees to follow and walked past the blonds and towards route one.  
“I’m starting to get really tired of people asking me about Emerald,” Lillie sighed once the group was a safe distance away.  
Gladion didn’t answer, a deeper frown than usual on his face as he continued to stare in the direction Malachite went.  
Lillie turned to her brother, “What’s wrong? Is… it about Mr. Faba? It’s really strange he just quit like that, he loved being a Branch Chief.”  
“No, I don’t really care about that, It was Malachite… he was acting off, twitchy. The way he was talking, it’s like he was trying too hard to be himself.” Gladion said, looking behind him before starting to walk again.  
“He looked tired.” Lillie pointed out.  
Gladion nodded, “He looked ready to pass out, must be from being made Branch Chief, he probably had to clean up mountains of Faba’s dirty work.”  
“But, Gladion, If Mr. Malachite is Branch Chief now doesn’t that mean that he hurt Emerald too?”  
The blond boy made a face, “Most of Emerald's scars are more than just a month old Lillie, I’m sure it was Faba that gave Emerald those injuries! Malachite wouldn’t… Malachite wouldn’t do that! He helped me rescue Silvally, convinced Faba and mother to send most the ultra beasts Moon and I caught back to their own words! Why would he suddenly start hurting Emerald? It’s Faba that does the hurtful things, not him.”  
“But what about the burns and boot-shaped bruises I told you about? They looked fresh…”  
“It could have just been the other employees. They wear heels too after all. It was probably one of the scientists.”  
“That still doesn’t explain the burns Gladion! I’m positive they put a shock collar on him! Mr. Malachite had to know!”  
“I… don’t think he did it voluntarily Lillie! He works under mother after all. He doesn’t exactly have much of a choice in the matter,” The boy said firmly as the two approached the hotel and climbed up the stairs to the room number Wicke had told them she was occupying by phone that morning, “Okay now let’s get Wicke and show her Emerald… let’s hope he doesn’t react to her like he did me.”  
Lillie frowned at the abrupt change in subject but didn’t commit and instead knocked on the door, “He’ll like her Gladion I just know it! Remember how happy he was to hear her voice?”  
“I remember,” he huffed and crossed his arms, “you just never know. He seemed to like Faba too didn’t he? and we know how well he treated the overgrown Sandlit."  
The hotel door opened before Lillie could reply, revealing a happy looking Wicke, gone was her usual white attire of Aether Paradise and instead, she wore her usual pink sweater with a long dark purple skirt that was covered in flower designs complete with white pink heels.  
“Gladion! Lillie! It’s so good to see you two again!” she exclaimed, stepping outside then closing the door and before the two could react gave them a tight hug, “Oh it feels like forever since we’ve last seen each other!”  
Gladion struggled not to squirm in her grip, he hadn’t been given a hug in such a long time, It felt so strange.  
Not exactly bad just strange, maybe if he had gotten more in his life it wouldn’t feel so off...  
“It has been a while hasn’t it?” Gladion said softly after the women let them go.  
“It's good to see you too Ms. Wicke!” Lillie chirped, smiling warmly at her.  
“Look at you two you’ve grown so much since I last saw you!” The women said, moving over to Lillie putting both of her hands on the girl's cheeks, “You look so beautiful! That new outfit of yours never gets old!” Lillie blushed bright red and started to twiddle her thumbs, “Oh and look at you Gladion! You’re looking more like a grown man every day! I really am so proud of you two!”  
Soon enough both siblings were beat red.  
“So, what was it you wanted to show me? It sounded urgent, is anything wrong?”  
“Don’t worry! It’s nothing bad, but we have to show you something before we tell you about it.” Lillie said quietly.  
“Show me?” Wicke said puzzledly, looking over to Gladion.  
“Ya, show you.” the boy said, “We can’t discuss this in-depth here and this is really something we have to show you first before we talk about it. First, though can you promise me you won’t tell anyone else what we’re about to show you?”  
Wicke blinked, “Well that depends Gladion, have you been—”  
“It's nothing bad!” Lillie protested.  
“As if she would be involved in anything like that,” Gladdion added with a small eye roll.  
“Well, alright then. I promise I’m not going to tell anyone.”  
“Good! Now just follow us, I’ll take you there!” Lillie said happily already taking the lead back in the direction she and Gladion came from.  
“Oh, and before I forget” the women started after they entered the city, “this may be an odd question but did you see Malachite around by any chance? I swore I saw him when I got off the boat.”  
“Ya we did, we even talked to him for a little bit… Did you know he's Branch Chief now?” Gladion asked.  
“Yes. I knew. I called the head of the department to try and get a hold of Faba and Malachite picked up instead and informed me that he quit two months ago-”  
Head of department?  
Why did she call him through that?  
He knew she had his home phone number.  
“Two months ago… Ms. Wicke when did you try calling him?” Lillie asked with wide eyes.  
“About five weeks ago? Why?” Wicke asked.  
“Because when we asked Mr. Malachite when he quit he said It had only been a little less than two! He told us different dates.” Lillie told the women.  
“Different… dates?” Wicke whispered stopping dead in her tracks.  
“He wasn’t that far off.” Gladion said dismissively, Ignoring the small pang of doubt that was almost nonexistent in his chest, “He probably just got the dates mixed up... What’s wrong? Has he not been calling you or something?”  
The woman pulled at the sleeves of her sweater, “No, he hasn’t been for a few months now actually. That's why I called the head of department for him. I’m starting to get worried about him, in the last call I had with him he was speaking with me about possibly quitting. He even told me he would inform me about it if he did so, but Faba never called me again, even to just go on and brag about his latest invention, I’m really starting to think about calling law enforcement.  
A tiny flash of worry crossed Lillie’s face, but Gladion didn’t look even remotely concerned.  
“That’s what you’re so worked up about? I’m sure he's fine Wicke. You know how he is, the guys a bastard. He probably just wanted to drop you because he’s a fu-”  
The boy stopped as the woman gave him a stern glare.  
“Gladion, I understand and respect that you don’t like Faba, but you do not know him like I do and you will not insult him like that in my presence, is that understood?”  
Gladion scowled, “Yes ma’am I understand.”  
Wicke stopped her glaring and began to move again, the worried look still on her face.  
“That is a little strange. Maybe, he just left in a hurry and hasn’t got the chance to call you yet. I bet he’ll call you back as soon as he can!”  
Gladion rolled his eyes, ya right.  
The man was probably just ignoring poor Wicke like he always did.  
It’s not like he ever treated her right at least once in his life.  
“I really hope so,” the woman sighed her usual smile appearing back on her face, “I’m sorry you two. I really shouldn’t be putting my burdens on you, you already have enough to deal with.”  
“It’s fine Wicke.” Gladion said looking around for a moment as they passed the Pokémon center for any possible eavesdroppers, “In speaking of the Foundation, have you been there at all over the last few months?”  
The women gave him a strange look, “No, I haven’t. After your mother fired me, she refused to let me do as little as visit. I would have gone there to look for Faba when he stopped picking up, why are you asking? Do you think something else is going on there again? Is… Is that why you asked me to come?”  
“Something like that,” Lillie answered hesitantly.  
“And what about that new ultra beast of mothers, do you know anything about it? Or feel like you do?” Gladion asked dropping his voice to a low whisper.  
Wicke gave him another weird look that quickly turned into horrified realization.  
“You two didn’t… You found the ultra beast, didn’t you?! You’re taking me to it! Oh please tell me you didn’t, that thing is dangerous!” she said stopping in place again at the beachfront.  
“Emeralds not dangerous Ms. Wicke!” Lillie argued a little louder than necessary, making him glad for once that Kukui and Burnet were out for the day watching a few of the traps, “he’s really nice and clever! He was just scared and afraid when he hurt those people, I’m sure he's really sorry about it!”  
“Oh dear, you really have.” Wicke said sounding conflicted as she stared in the distance near the cave for the longest time, “It’s nice? Are you sure about that Lillie? I trust you, but with what little I know about this ultra beast isn’t a first good impression. I don’t want you two getting hurt.”  
“It sounds fishy I know, I still don’t trust that this thing won’t try and attack us out of the blue, but there’s something really weird about this ultra beast Wicke. He can understand human speech, somehow knew about the type changer discs, and apparently recognized you in a pamphlet Lillie brought.” Gladion said being careful to keep his voice down as Lillie gently took her hand and pulled her closer to that cave.  
“He even seemed to like you. The gurgling noise on the phone yesterday, that was Emerald,” Lillie told her.  
“It did? That's strange, I don’t know why It would recognize me or understand human speech for that matter. Even the ones we tried to tame never got to understanding it, and as for the disks you’re sure it knew what they would do?”  
“It at least looked he knew what he was doing, Emerald knocked the disk out of my hand before I could put it in, he really hates them and he doesn’t seem to like Silvally ether.”  
“He’s getting along with Silvally a little better now,” Lillie argued as she stopped by the large boulder blocking the cave Emerald inhabited.  
“Okay… Emerald’s in here. We can tell you everything else inside. You can even pet him if you want! He doesn’t bite I promise. Just let me go in first and calm him down a little. He acts like he likes you a lot, but I want to let him know it’s okay first in case he gets scared.” The girl informed them then quickly slipped inside.  
Wicke looked concerned for the blond girl for a few moments, one of her hands hovering over one of her two Pokéballs before Lillie called for them to come in.  
The women gave Gladion a worried glance and hesitantly wedged her way inside, making sure to keep Gladion behind her to the boys annoyance.  
Her green eyes widened when they landed on the beast still wrapped in his bandages Lillie was crouched beside him gently stroking his mane, “Look, Emerald!” the girl started, motioning over to the two, “That’s Ms. Wicke, from the brochure and the phone call. She's really nice so you don’t have to be scared around her! I promise she has a heart of gold!”  
The scaly creature instantly turned to her, his eyes lighting up, a very happy grin twisting on his maw, bounding over to Wicke without hesitation as his tail began to wag.  
“Oh um, hello.” Wicke greeted it, a worried look on her face as he stared up at her and jumped in the air a few times.  
“He looks happy to see you, Ms. Wicke! I just knew he would like you!” Lillie observed.  
“I guess It… he does.” Wicke murmured walking a little way into the cave with the two as the beast followed behind, nudging her leg and gently pulling on her skirt.  
The women's eyes flickered down to him in surprise and moved into a crouch, “Does he want something?” Wicke asked the siblings.  
“Usually he does that to me when he wants food or attention. He might want you to pet him.”  
“I don’t get why he likes you so much… he hates it whenever I try to touch him,” Gladion grumbled as Wicke slowly held out a hand for Emerald to sniff.  
The creature gurgled happily and instead of sniffing her instantly started to rub his head against her, tail hitting her side an odd rumbling starting in his chest that sounded like purring as Emerald maneuvered through the gap between her arm, still rubbing against her as he stared deeply in her eyes.  
Wicke didn’t flinch nor pull away, bewildered, but slowly ran her hand down his head making Emerald purr even louder to the extent that they shook his scaly body scrambling further on her lap that it made the women sit down.  
“Awww… well, I would say you're definitely right about him Lillie, he is really sweet.”  
Lillie simply smiled in relief, “See? Even if the news painted him in a bad light he’s harmless! They’re just making a monster of a sweet cuddle bug!”  
Wicke gently rubbed the beast’s ears, frowning slightly as she ran a hand over one on his bandages, eyes now on the missing stinger, “Oh poor thing, what happened to him, Lillie?”  
“Just some other Pokémon and the kahunas,” Gladion said quickly and sat down across from her as Lillie sat beside him, “but that doesn’t matter right now. Wicke is there anything you know about Emerald outside of what the papers have been writing about?”  
Wickes brow furrowed for a moment before nodding frantically, ”Yes actually! When Faba and I were still in contact he mentioned that Malachite and a group of scientists were working on creating a new ultra beast for your mother, I was just a bit unsure If it was already made or not, Faba never got the chance to tell me, he just said it was in progress, but now.. I think this creature might be that creation!”  
Malachite… he made an Ultra beast?  
Faba hadn’t been involved at all?  
Could that mean Malachite had abused him like Silvally was by Faba?  
Cut Emerald open and probably kicked him?  
Gladion felt betrayed, he thought Malachite was a good man!  
He loved Pokémon and treated them with the respect they deserved, especially his own dragon types that Gladion had the pleasure to have a Pokémon battle against.  
He trusted him more than most and he went around and did something as awful as this?!  
Why?  
Malachite had told him how horrible and inhumane he thought the experiments done on Silvally were.  
How angry he was at Faba for conditioning them.  
The man would even go on rants about how no one should just up and create life like that.  
What had happened to change his morals so drastically?  
Lillie gasped and looked to her brother, “So he is like Silvally then!”  
Her brother looked unsure putting a hand in front of his face fighting back his anger at Malachite, “But, If he really was created then why would the foundation teach it such useless shi.. things?! I mean I guess some of it could be to test out its motor functions like you said Lillie, but it still doesn’t make sense how he knows what cards and mugs are!”  
Wicke blinked, “He knows what cards are?”  
Lillie nodded, “Ummm ya. He even said sorry when he ripped some of them.”  
“He said sorry….Does he talk often then?” The woman asked.  
“Not really” Lillie replied, “he's only really said two things and when he does it sounds really off.”  
“And it always sounds really freaky strained,” Gladion added, “Almost like he’s not supposed to talk or something..”  
A Wickes’s eyebrows furrowed, “He can’t have been mimicking… Have you seen him do anything else human-like? Or Arceus forbid… does he have any parts that look human?”  
“Umm ya, Emerald acts a lot like a human actually. It’s very strange.”  
“His claws look human... And the other teeth in his mouth they look pretty human too.” Gladion told her, unsure what she was getting at.  
“Do you think they made his brain that way?” his sister asked the woman, “to think like a human? So mother could possibly train him better? I know what she wanted most was for an ultra beast that was obedient to her.”  
Gladion thought for a moment, made his brain that way...  
You couldn’t just make a creature think in such a way minus hypnosis.  
He understood giving him human intelligence would make him smarter, but why would Emerald act so human all the time, unless he was trained to be like that?  
Unless… since Emerald had some of the mental attributes of a human and was a man-made ultra beast... could that mean... was it really possible if when he was made that…  
Gladion felt sick just thinking about the possibility.  
His anger at Malachite flaring to a burning point...  
“Wicke you’re sure Faba was telling you the truth about Emerald being created!? He isn't just some random ultra beast that had his mind tampered with, you're sure he's not lying!?”  
The woman shook her head, “I wouldn’t see why he wouldn’t be truthful with me! He wouldn’t have any reason to!”  
Gladion felt his hand twitch in disgust, “What if... Wicke, Lillie… what if the reason why he’s like that is that he doesn’t just have ultra beast or Pokémon DNA in him, but Aether decided to put a human brain in him and even different human parts so he would express human emotions and possible speech?”  
They were all quiet for a moment, the silence only broken by Emeralds whimpers as Wicke had stopped petting him.  
“From what you told me… It definitely sounds likely.” Wicke said uneasily as Emerald purred more and laid his head in her lap, “I never thought they would go this far..”  
“But Gladion… that still doesn’t explain how he knows what cards are or how he knew where to find those berries. He wouldn’t know that stuff even if he does have human DNA, he would just have the thinking patterns of a human.” Lillie pointed out, looking sick.  
Gladion nodded thoughtfully, “Ya... You’re right It doesn’t. Ugh! I wish we could get a straight answer about this thing! Do you know anything else about him, Wicke?”  
“I’m afraid not,” Wicke said, scratching near the creature’s horns making him sigh happily and kick his back legs up and down, “Faba didn’t tell me anything outside of that, but I think I might have an idea on how to find out more.”  
“What is it?” Lillie asked as the two blonds eyed her desperately.  
“As you know I work In the alternate dimensional research lab, If we take some blood samples from Emerald and input it in one of the scanners, I’m sure It would tell us something and confirm If he really does have human DNA In him.”  
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if someone sees you scanning?” Gladion asked.  
“They won’t see If we go after hours. I do have a key to get in and If anyone asks I can just tell them I forgot something and was simply getting it back.”  
A small smirk appeared on Gladion’s face, “So are we breaking in then?”  
“I don’t think using a key card counts as breaking in,” Lillie pointed out.  
“It is when you’re not supposed to be there.” the boy said.  
“Anyhow,” Wicke started as Emerald nuzzled her hand as she continued to pet the creature, “the boats stop running at about seven forty five-five on a Sunday and the labs don’t close until an hour or so after, so you both will have to spend the night at my place. Do you know if Emerald will be okay being alone for that long?”  
“He’ll be okay, I just need to get him more food,” Lillie mumbled as Gladion tapped his foot on the ground, “That’s fine by me, I just want some answers about this thing.”  
“Me too,” Lillie sighed, “the more we know about him, the more we can help him! Maybe we can stop him from acting so sad all the time and crying in his sleep.”  
“Oh, the poor thing cries in his sleep?” Wicke asked softly to which Lillie nodded and gazed at the ultra beast for a moment who was still purring in her lap, “You know, It’s a little strange he does that with you.. I’ve known Emerald for more than a week now and he always refuses to lay in my lap.”  
Gladion scowled slightly, “Well since we’re going to be sticking around for a while, I guess we might as well tell you the whole story about Emerald, Lillie and I left out a lot.” He said quickly.  
“Please do, I was just about to ask you that,” Wicke replied.  
Lillie sighed, mildly annoyed that she had to tell the same, long story over again and for the second time explained her tale, with Gladion adding his commentary every now and now with Wicke listening intently as she continued to pet Emerald who looked like the happiest creature alive to be there with her.  
~  
The day went by extremely slow after that with only Lillie going out to inform Kukui and Burnet she wouldn’t be there for dinner, to bring Emerald some food and the grueling task of getting a blood sample from Emerald who was a big babby about one small needle and took quite a while for Lillie and Wicke to calm him.  
The three eventually attempted to walk around to kill time when the cave got stuffy, but whenever Wicke attempted to stand Emerald would become extremely upset even more so whenever Lillie would leave him in the past, clinging to her skirt and shaking his head.  
Making a pathetic whining noise and giving her all too human looks full of sadness and desperation that made the women cave to the beast’s wishes, telling the siblings to go on and do what they wanted without her.  
The two refused at first, but children could only sit around for so long without getting fidgety and soon left, leaving Wicke alone with Emerald.  
The woman sat there for the longest time, now that Lillie and Gladion weren’t there to see her giving in once again to her worries and calling Faba for what was probably hundreds more times and leaving a few more voicemails.  
Not taking into account how every time she said Faba’s name that Emerald would turn to look at her.  
“Hello, Faba? It’s Wicke again! I know you’re probably annoyed that I’ve been calling you so much and are far too busy to give me even a single call telling me you're alright that would only take you a minute probably even less than that, but Malachite…. He said something that concerned me. Just call me back okay? Or just leave a voicemail, I need to know you’re okay.” with that the women ended the message and sighed, running a hand through her puffy hair.  
Faba was fine, he had to be fine, he had to be…  
The last call he made to her echoed in her head and the badly hidden fear in her friend’s eyes.  
Lusamine had been acting very possessive around the man, that definitely couldn’t have ended in something good, what if she had done something to him?  
No… The women told herself quickly, no.  
She was just being overly paranoid again, just jumping to conclusions like the time he wasn’t at work for the day and a small part of her mind fretted that he had fainted again when really he was just out patrolling with an employee, or the many times he wasn't bragging as much as usual and he was just tired and not an imposter.  
Faba was just busy, he had gone without calling her like this before, just never this long.  
Curled up halfway on her lap, with the side of his head on her and the rest of his scaly body curled up near her the horned creature shifted to his side making her wonder if Emerald was hurting his stingers putting pressure on them like that.  
The beast whimpered softly, looking directly into her eyes again as he put a set of claws on her hand at what was probably an attempt at comfort.  
“It’s okay, little one. I’m just worried about a friend of mine is all, but I’m sure he's alright.” the women told him smiling warmly at the creature.  
The beast gurgled and sat up a little to look curiously over to her phone, his gaze locked on Faba’s unamused face that she used for his contact photo.  
“That’s him, his name is Faba,” she said as the creature moved his other claws to touch the man's face.  
He really did seem to recognize Faba.  
The man-made ultra beast was smart, would he know something?  
Perhaps not, but it was worth a shot.  
“Do… you know him Emerald? Did you see him walking around Aether Foundation by any chance? Did… he appears frightened at all? Or did you see him leave maybe?”  
The creature whined and looked away, muzzle scrunching up as if he was trying to remember, but ended up turning back to Wicke with a confused cock of his face.  
Even although he recognized her friend, the creature didn’t seem to know.  
Did he even know Faba at all?  
Was he even there at all when the creature was finally made?  
The ultra beast whined again, sounding strangely distressed as Wicke could feel him start to shake her lap, claws digging in her hand and the other set moving to grasp his skull.  
Wicke instantly felt guilty, had mentioning Aether upset him?  
“Shhh, shh. Hey, Emerald, it’s okay. It’s okay little one…. It’s alright. There’s no need to get upset. It’s okay, It’s okay,” she said as she put the phone down and pulled the creature a little closer into a small hug.  
Emerald relaxed at the words, and after a few minutes of hugging, allowed Wicke to let go and curled back in the same position in her lap as she slid her phone back in her pocket figuring she had called Faba more than enough for now, she just hoped he would call her back soon.  
“That man really better call me soon.. Or I’m tracking him down myself!” the women muttered, her mind already planning out the exact words she would use to scold him that would, of course, be followed by her telling him how happy she was to know he was okay as he bellyached about her going out of her way to yell at him and probably not even apologize for making her worry!  
Sometimes that man would really get on her nerves and make her so angry and frustrated!  
He could be so clueless from time to time and be uncaring without fulling realizing it! The way he always neglected eating and sleeping, how he would make such a big sene at restrants jsut becuse they forgot to remove the tomatos, the times when he refused to take sick days when he was barely able to stand, how she would always have to pull him away from work just to do something as simple as to go out to lunch together.  
For how smart he was he could really be an outright idiot.  
He’d acted that way for as long as she could remember back when she first joined the foundation years ago.  
She joined not to long after him and Mohn had.  
She could remember how prideful he sounded when he introduced himself as if he were the king of Alola.  
She had talked to Mohn quite often back then as the man was extremely friendly and outgoing, but not so much Faba.  
He mostly ignored her along with everyone else in the foundations with the exception of Mohn.  
He would sometimes even act outright aggressive to the ones who got especially close to Mohn like they were some kind of threat to His and Mohn's friendship.  
She could fondly remember the blond dragging and sometimes even carrying Faba all the way through the foundation to go out to do something as the smaller man struggled and complained all the way about him having work to do, a thing Wicke now did herself with him.  
Mohn was rarely seen without his friend, especially after he was eventually made president as a result of all his outstanding accomplishments and instantly appointed Faba as his Branch Chief.  
She smiled faintly as she recalled the happy, prideful look Faba had on his face whenever Mohn introduced Faba and himself to visitors; ‘Hello! Welcome to Aether Paradise! I’m president Mohn, but you can just call me Mohn, and this is my loyal Branch Chief, Faba! Call him by his title if you would! He’s very proud of it!’  
Even with all his grumbling about Mohn being a nuisance Faba seemed to be so happy around the man even when the time they spent together diminished after he married Lusamine and had Gladion and Lillie.  
Back then, she would have never imagined herself being friends with the man, he could be so rude and stand-offish at times which Mohn always apologized for him and said it was because; ‘he was cranky’ but after Mohn vanished, Faba had been understandingly devastated.  
No one had bothered to console him as Faba had no real friends at the foundation besides Mohn.  
He didn’t even take any time off work to grieve which some found inappropriate, but Wicke just found sad.  
In her eyes he had just been trying to drown himself in his projects, especially concerning Cosmog.  
He acted so quiet and sad back then, it was obvious to her then that no one was going to even try to reach out to him.  
So she decided to be the one to try.  
A jerk or not Wicke couldn’t just watch anyone suffer like that.  
He had only gotten more upset when Lusamine was made president.  
She remembered the awful way he kicked the wall then collapsed and cried uncontrollably in the middle of the hallway after the meeting when she was appointed was over, babbling something about the woman taking everything he loved away from him.  
Even Wicke had been angry.  
Lusamine wasn’t even a scientist at the time and didn’t have near the qualifications for the job, unlike Faba.  
The people who decided this claimed It was in Mohn’s will and that the man’s wishes should be obeyed.  
Her and Faba, on the other hand, though they may have been bribed, Lusamine had a lot of money after all.  
Unfortunately, no one else had any real suspicions about the women being made president, falling under the spell of a grieving widow.  
That and she was pretty sure the other employees were more relieved than anything that Faba hadn’t been made Branch Chief and deep down so was Wicke.  
She loved her friend, but he could be so easily blinded by power and his prideful, arrogant attitude didn’t really help ease her worries in the slightest.  
She was afraid the position would change him for the worst.  
Nonetheless, despite these fears it didn’t stop her from standing by his side and arguing with the board how Lusamine didn’t deserve to be president, and supporting and comforting best she could.  
The man never thanked her directly for helping him during those dark times, but after what she did he become softer with her, wouldn’t yell at her near as much and actually be the one to start conversations and approach her.  
Whenever she found herself a little overwhelmed with paperwork large amounts of it would vanish as Faba magically got more and when Assistant Branch Chief Rowen quit for reasons Wicke didn’t know, she was appointed the position of Fabas new Assistant, despite her not doing anything incredible to move up that rank.  
Ever since then, they only got closer and closer regardless of the bumps.  
The woman smiled some more, continuing to pat the creature’s head, realizing in amusement that this was the same way Faba would would lay in her lap from time to time when he was especially tired or upset and like when one of her a Pokémon fell asleep in her lap, Wicke found herself sitting there for hours on end until he woke up or had no choice but to move.  
she was so wrong about Emerald being a monster.  
Lillie was right about him, the girl really was growing up wasn’t she?  
Turning her attention back to Emerald she half wondered if the ultra beast snored too like Faba too.  
She chuckled softly, “You really are a sweetheart Emerald aren't you? And so cute! Such a cute little ultra beast! I don’t understand what the media is talking about when they said you were aggressive!”  
The scaly creature only gave her a long look and cocked his head with a small gurgle, closing his eyes as Wicke ruffled his ears at the adorable action, “Yes you know it’s true, don't you?! You are cute! And so pretty too aren't you? Yes, you are! Yes, you are! Such a good, pretty boy!”  
“No offence Wicke, but I think you need to get your glasses checked because that thing is definitely the opposite of cute.” the voice of Gladion said from the opening of the cave who was just stepping inside with Lillie each of them looking equally as ruffled from training with their Pokémon.  
The boy crossed his arms and huffed, “I mean… have you gotten a good look at its face and those stingers? Silvally is much more adorable than him.”  
“You think so?” Wicke blinked, “I think his stingers look nice on him, even if parts are missing on the poor thing.”  
“Ya, they’re pretty cute, until he stabs you with them.”  
Emerald responded in a glare at the boy who glared right back.  
Lillie frowned at her brother, “Gladion! Emeralds not going to stab anyone! Not even you! He might even start liking you if you were more kind to him!”  
As if denying this statement, the scaly creature hissed softly at the blond boy.  
“Hey, I didn’t even do anything that time you little shi-”  
“Gladion..” Wicke started warningly and the boy instantly closed his mouth as the creature gave him a smug look, maw twisting in a smirk like smile then put his head back down.  
“The last boat is boarding soon, Ms. Wicke.” Lillie told her as her brother scoffed at the ultra beast, “ Gladion and I came to get you so we could start walking over to them.”  
At ‘get going’ Emerald whined, head snapped up to Wicke his claws already digging into her skirt.  
“No, Emerald. I’m sorry, but I have to go for now, I’ll be back in the morning!” Wicke told him, petting his head a few more times before standing up or trying to stand up as the creature clung to her clothing, his back legs shaking as he struggled to remain upright, leaning all his weight on her to avoid falling.  
Wicke stared at him for a moment, the creature was taller than she thought when he stood on his back legs, he surprisingly was only a head or two shorter than her.  
Lillie stepped closer to the two and pulled a box of cookies out of her bag, “Look, Emerald! It’s your favorite treats! Do you want them? Huh? Do you want the yummy cookies? You can have all of them this time, not just half!”  
Emerald's eyes flickered to her for a moment but quickly went back to staring pleadingly at Wicke.  
“Kkk.kkk.kkiii.” He grounded distortedly.  
“Come on Emerald, don’t you want them? I’ll…” she paused to pull out yet another box of the same cookies out of her bag.  
“What?! I thought those were for us!” Gladion whined.  
“I’ll even give you two! You just have to let go of Ms. Wicke and stay here please, okay?  
The beast didn’t even twitch.  
“I thought for sure that would work.” The girl mumbled a dejected look on her face.  
“Hey! Down Emerald!” Gladion tried, pointing at the ground with a finger.  
The creature, claws only dug further into Wicke’s skirt, glaring at the boy.  
Gladion grimaced at the creature, “After we get back we really need to start training you!” he told it then turned to Wicke and Lillie, “At this rate, we're never going to get on the boat on time! That damn thing is so clingy to you!”  
“Gladion language!” she told him sternly before ‘the look’ appeared on her face as she met Emerald’s eyes, “Emerald, down,” she said in a tone she normally only used when the siblings or anyone at Aether was doing something they weren't supposed to.  
To Gladion's surprise, the beast lowered his head, whimpering more and loosened his grip.  
“I mean it Emerald, Down now.”  
The creature whined one last time and finally let go, looking at the ground like a pouty child.  
“Good, now stay! We’ll be back tomorrow, so don’t worry! We’ll be back before you know it!” she told him giving him a last pet then turning to the flabbergasted siblings, “Now, I have the blood. let's get going shall we?”  
“You didn’t even raise your voice at him! And he just obeyed!” Gladion gaped.  
“He doesn't even listen to me sometimes. And you're new! Maybe you should be the one to train him, Ms. Wicke!” Lillie added.  
The women just smiled, “I’m sure I can help you train him, now why don’t you give him those cookies Lillie? We need to get going.”  
Lillie nodded opening the box and the plastic covering before placing it next to the upset creature, “Bye Emerald see you tomorrow! Hopefully, we can help and understand you better when we get back!” she told him confidently, giving the beast a small hug then made her way out with the others with Emerald waving sadly once they had disappeared.  
The group tripled checked that the ultra beast had obeyed Wicke and wasn’t trying to follow them before quickly walking off toward the boats, the moon shining brightly in the sky, lighting their way.  
~  
Not too long had passed before a green beak poked out from the entrance of the cave followed by a scaly head.  
Where… where nice pink lady go?  
Where... W-Wickkie? Name Wicke? Name Wicke… yes, they call her that… Wicke… where Wicke go?  
She very nice to him.  
Feels so sad without her already.  
Misses her.  
Misses her lots.  
Doesn’t want her to leave again.  
Doesn’t want to be alone especially without green mug…  
He misses that too and nice soft yellow… Pokémon?  
Yes it was Pokémon.  
A… was it… a Hypno?  
He looked both ways before stepping fully out the cold sand on his...claws? whimpering until he spotted Wicke in the distance.  
Wicke… L-Lille say no.  
No follow, Want him to stay in cave, but he misses her but they… say no… he has to… obey.  
Something in his mind shifted, no… th-they don’t tell him what to do!!  
They don’t!!  
They don’t!!  
They won’t make him hurt like in white bright place.  
He wants to be near her, she makes him feel less wrong.  
So he will follow, follow them!!  
He will do what he wants!!  
”I-iiii...kkkk..k..kkiiii.” He whimpered, the words hurting his throat as they came out harshly.  
Sounding wrong and off-putting before hesitantly following behind the three at a distance where they couldn’t see him.  
Nice pink lady wasn’t going to leave him.  
He wanted hugs and love.  
Not lonely and dark feelings in the cold cave.  
He got going up the little hill and toward the street leaving the safety of the cave behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gladion: "Who the fuck would do somehting like this?!"  
> Wicke: "Gladion launge!!"  
> Gladion: "Oh, sorry... Whom the fuck would do something like this!?"


	22. The Monster Bears His Fangs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Emerald really needs to work on being in stealth mode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos once again everyone!  
> Happy late Halloween!  
> I have a somewhat early chapter for you all because I felt bad over how long the last chapter took to post.  
> This chapter is a lot more action-packed than the last few have been with an actual battle that was fun and annoying to write.  
> The next chapter won't be as exciting, but we'll get to see yet another familiar face and in the following chapter get even more who I'm really excited to write for!  
> I'll try and pump them out quickly because I'm really excited to write some sweet-ass angst that's coming up soonish.  
> Everyone cries then gets hugs!  
> Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always apologize in advance for any spelling errors and improper sentence structure you will probably see.

“So… Wicke, we’ve been so caught up with all this ultra beast stuff we never got the chance to ask you how you’ve been lately, mother was very abrupt when she fired you. She didn’t try and drain any of your funds did she? She usually does that when she’s trying to be spiteful to the employees that got one over on her.” Gladion started seriously as he, Lillie, and Wicke walked down the street with an unseen scaly follower treding a good distance behind them.  
The star-filled sky twinkling overhead shining even brighter than the streetlights.  
“Like I’ve told you before, neither of you should be worrying about something as simple as my funds. You and Lillie have done more than enough by getting Burnet to hire me and besides Faba has already helped me out with everything regarding money, so there’s nothing to worry about.”  
“He has? That’s really nice of him.” murmured Lillie.  
Gladion couldn’t help but to roll his eyes, “Ya real nice, let me guess, and he told you that when you pay him back he wants more than what he originally lent to you or,” Gladion clenched his teeth, “he made you do something... in return for it?”  
“No actually,” the women said cooly, “he told me not to worry about it and that he has plenty of money to spare.”  
The blond boy snorted as Wicke continued, “Anyways enough about me. What have you two been up to lately?”  
Gladion shrugged, “Nothing too interesting, just hunting down the other ultra beasts and doing more training with my Pokémon.”  
“Professor Kukui caught me a Vulpix for my birthday!” Lillie told the women, “I named her Snowy and we’ve been training really hard ever since!”  
Wicke smiled sadly, “Ahh yes… your birthday was a few months ago, wasn’t it? I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”  
“It’s okay Ms. Wicke! You were busy at your new job. Professor Burnet told me how much you wanted to come.”  
The woman shook her head, “Yes, but I still should have a least visited you instead of just calling when my workload died down… I should have been there for you, both of you. I should have done more… I feel as if I’ve failed you two and broke the promise I made to myself to take care of you to the best of my abilities. If it’s worth anything by this point I’m sorry.”  
Both siblings stared at her, “Wicke you did your best taking care of us, things were tough back then. I currently don’t hold anything against you for not doing more.”  
“I don’t either!” Lillie added firmly, “I think there are things we all could have done better, but we can all start making better decisions now and start with helping Emerald together!”  
Wicke smiled warmly at the girl and Gladion couldn’t help but let a small smirk of his own tug across his face, “I think that’s a pretty decent idea It's… nice to spend time together again even if it's in circumstances like this.” The blond boy said quietly, sincerely meaning his words.  
“It is… and thank you, Ms. Wicke, for everything. I don’t think I’ve told you that before,” His sister told the women.  
“Yes thank you, Wicke. Things would have been a lot worse off for us if it weren’t for you.”  
“I was just doing what your mother should have, but you’re welcome,” Wicke said gently.  
The group would have fallen into silence after that if weren’t for the close approaching footsteps of three figures that echoed through the empty town from behind who luckily walked right past a certain ultra beast.  
The creature shrinking where he was at the sight of the ocean eyed man.  
“Young masters! Wait there if you would! There’s something I have to talk to you about!” the silky voice of Malachite called out, his voice sounding more strained than before.  
“Not again,” Lillie mumbled as Gladions eyes narrowed and Wicke tensed.  
“Ahh and Ms. Wicke I haven’t seen you since you were fired! Are you good? You look good!”  
“Yes Malachite, I’ve been doing just fine, thank you for asking, and yourself?”  
Malachite gave her a smile that was a little too wide, “Fine.. I’ve been fine.” he said dismissively then turned his attention to Lillie the fake smile quickly falling and his voice becoming even more strained.  
The odd look in his eyes instantly making Gladion move in front of his sister, “Now Ms. Lillie I know you're probably getting tired of us asking, but-”  
“I promise, I haven’t seen the Fabeast anywhere Mr. Malachite, You’re just wasting your time asking me.”  
“You haven’t? Then would you be as kind as to tell me what one of your pokédolls was doing in a cave we discovered in Melemele Meadows along with some of the Fabeast’s blood?” he asked motioning at the pink-haired grunt who showed them a Hypno plush that she had been holding behind her back with several little tears in its fur that Emerald's claws must have made.  
Shit… shit!  
He knew Lillie had said she had brought stuff to Emerald, but It slipped his mind that they would still be in the cave!  
He didn’t know how they knew it was Emerald’s blood, but it was clear Malachite knew they had possession of the creature.  
This definitely wasn’t going to end well.  
“Th-that’s not mine!” Lillie said a little too quickly as Gladion and Wicke exchanged panicked looks.  
A four-legged shape in that darkness luckily not whining at the ocean eyed man as he shook.  
His terror-filled eyes switching from Malachite to the Hypno plush, taking a few careful steps back to try and make a quiet getaway.  
“It has your name on the tag,” The other grunt dead paned with a raise of her eyebrows.  
That got no response from them, except glares.  
Malachite sighed, “Don’t look at me like that… I understand why you three are trying to keep it from me, but you have to give it back. The Fabeast might be playing nice and friendly now, but this thing is extremely dangerous. It’s because of it that my friend is in the hospital!” Malachite growled the anger slipping into his voice before it was pushed back under his mental ocean, “I don’t want to see any of you ending up like my Daymond, now please tell me where is it? We need to bring it back to the foundations as fast as possible. Only there can the beast itself and the islanders be safe, and not out prowling about or with any of you.”  
“Ya! You're putting everyone on the islands in danger letting it hang around!” The taller tan grunt added.  
Lillie looked like she was about to yell something at the man as she crossed her arms and glared when the tense silence was broken by the sound of a crunching can that got all their attention.  
Emerald’s whine of alarm reaching their ears as he shook the tin soda can that he had accidentally stepped off his claws.  
Both groups eyes widened for internally different reasons, “Emerald! We told you to stay!” Lillie yelled in horror as Malachite's face twisted into the ugliest snarl Gladion had ever seen that showed off his teeth.  
“It’s the Fabeast! After it now!” He yelled.  
“No! don’t you dare hurt Emerald!” Lillie snarled at them.  
Emerald whimpered not moving at all, his pupil turning into a thin line, claws digging into the earth as his tail went between his legs and ears flattened against his head.  
The two employees took out their pokéballs running toward the creature surely about to attack him, but Gladion didn’t give them the chance and threw one of his pokéballs in front of them, “Silvally come out! Block their path!”  
The three skidded to a stop as the chimera appeared in front of them.  
Silvally rearing up on its hind legs with a loud thrill, then turned its head to Emerald, expressing worry as it leaned down to run its beak through his mane in comfort then gently nudged the beast back with an urgent cry.  
Its message was obvious; run.  
Emerald’s body trembled with uneven breaths and with a scream of terror turned and retreated.  
“Lillie go after Emerald! Wicke and I can handle them!” he said grabbing his wrist and curling up all his fingers.  
Lillie didn’t argue taking her moon ball out of her pocket and ran past Silvally, straight after the scaly green beast.  
“H...hey!” Malachite began, taking his own Pokéball out of his pocket, “Ms. Lillie listen to me! You never should have gotten involved in any of this! That thing is going to kill you!” he yelled moving beside the two grunts as Wicke stood by Gladion, her hand on one of her pokéballs as well, “Malachite! Stop this at once! We do not wish to fight you, but we will if you don’t stand down!” she yelled as Silvally continued to growl menacingly at them, its gaze softening slightly when it fell on Malachite.  
The Branch Chief’s expression darkened, “Stop? No… I can’t just stop by this point, I’ve gone too far to do that.... I tried to play nice, give me that at least, but trust me on this. Helping that stupid thing is only going to end horribly for both of you! You want a fight? Fine, I’ll give you one. You’ve left me no other choice! I’m doing whatever it takes to get the Fabeast back to the foundation! To Lusamine and train its mind back to how it was.. I can already tell you’ve made it disobedient!”  
With that Malachite threw his Pokéball followed by the grunts.  
“Saphira! Come out, girl! I need your help!” the blue-green haired man shouted as a large Drampa appeared beside him, nuzzling his hair lovingly before roaring so loudly at them that it blew their hair back.  
A Vanillish and Arcanine then swiftly emerged from two grunts pokéballs, Wicke following as she released her Beware which towered over the three Aether employees.  
“Saphira use heatwave now!” Malachite snarled before Gladion or Wicke could yell their own commands causing the fighting and steel types to have no time to react as the Drampa opened her fluffy maw to a loud; “DRAAAAAA”, a wave of unbearable heat shooting out that was hot enough to make the Vanillish drip and hit the opposing Pokemon head-on.  
The Beware stood tall, only flinching a little from the heat as Silvally stumbled back with a cry of pain.  
“L...Lilac quick use hammer arm on the Vanillish!” Wicke ordered as Gladion yanked the dragon type disk from his pocket, “Silvally accept this dragon type disk and gain the claws and jaws of a mighty dragon! Now use multi-attack on the Drampa!” he yelled as soon partner accepted the disk.  
The Chimera lunged at the Drampa the dragon-type doing the same as they attacked each other.  
Meanwhile, the tan grunt yelped as Lilic swung at the ice type, “Ahh! Viennetta use ice beam!” She ordered.  
“Mr. Fluffsters help Viennetta out and use crunch!”  
Both Pokemon readied their attacks, but the Beware got to them too fast and struck the Vanillish with her large paw sending them flying down her street and into a street light than without even being told to, swung at the Arcanine as he jumped at her making him slam into the same street light and fall on to the ice-type.  
The Vanillish crying out in pain as the heat from the large fire-types body made her melt even more.  
“Good job Lilic! Now use rock slide on the Vanillish and try to hit the Arcanine with another hammer arm!”  
“Viennetta get up and use ice beam on the Beware’s paws!”  
“Mr. Fluffsters use flamethrower!” The two employees yelled so quickly it was hard to understand them, the Arcanine getting to his paws and the Vanillish floating back into the air, the Pokémon in such a rush to use their movies before the Beware attacked, the Arcanine accidentally hit his battling partner with the blast of fire as she floated in front of him to use her attack.  
“Van..vanillllll!” the ice-type cried and fell limp to the floor, with the Arcanine so preoccupied with whimpering what was probably an apology to them to dodge when his trainer commanded him to as the Beware hit him again.  
The fire-type struggled to get to his paws again after he crashed to the ground but one last swing from the Beware’s paw left him out cold.  
“S..sir?” the tan, brunette grunt whined, surprised at the strength of the fighting-type as she called her Pokémon back as did the other grunt and hid behind her friend, having no more Pokemon left to battle as the blue-eyed girl pulled out a great ball.  
Malachite ignored them and snarled with rage as Silvally landed the final blow on his Drampa and proceed to pull out a luxury and ultra ball.  
“Malachite! Stop this! You…. you hurt Em… the Fabeast didn’t you!? Don’t try and deny it! We saw the scars and bruises! Why the hell would you do that?! You helped me save Silvally! You said that the way Faba and the others were treated it was wrong you giant hypocrite! So why are you-”  
“That thing,” Malachite spat, eyes flaring with uncountable rage, that broke free from the water again, nearly bulging from his skull as saliva flew from his mouth, “Is nothing like the Type: Null or your Silvally! Hell, it's nothing like Cosmog! Those Pokémon... They were all innocent! That ultra beast… is not! It’s a fucking bastard! A damn bastard!! It deserves everything I did to it and so much fucking more! You just don’t understand!! If you knew the full story you would agree with me! I know you would! It deserves to suffer!” he howled hair falling in front of his crazed almost strangely desperate eyes.  
Gladion struggled not to flinch, Silvally huffing and narrowed its eyes, he had only heard Malachite raise his voice and use that much cursing once and it hadn’t been pleasant even then.  
So much hatred and malice all directed at Emerald...  
Was this all because Emerald hurt his friend?  
That was probably a large part of it, but according to the papers, the employee or Daymond as Malachite called him was found a few days after Emerald escaped from the foundations, so it had to be something more than that.  
He didn’t have long to think about Malachite’s words as after Malachites rant the man threw the two pokéballs into the air.  
A Salamence and a Silggoo popping out of them, the Salamence roaring loudly followed by the Sliggoo, whos mocking roar nearly caused her to fall over as In the background Wicke and her Beware fought the Ladian the pink-haired girl brought out.  
A smirk crossed Gladions face as he imminently took out his dragonium Z out of the bag by his side and placed it in his Z-ring.  
“I’m sorry about your friend Malachite, but you should never treat any creature like that! I can’t let you take him back to mother! Lillie already cares about the dumb thing too much!” he shouted a blinding orange light surrounding him and Silvally that caused Malachites dragon-types to flinch, “Alright Silvally! Let’s finish this together!” he yelled performing the twisty move and swinging a hand at the two Pokémon, “Use devastating drake!”  
Silvally opened its mental jaw a purple light building inside.  
With an ear-splitting cry, its blue tail and the back feathers of its crest glowed brighter and brighter catching the attention of Wicke and the two employees who were still currently battling.  
“S..Shit! Sligersworth, Hookfang doge it now! Malachite yelped, but his warning was of no real use as a purple beam shot out from Silvallys muzzle that morphed into the form of a humongous dragon that flew toward the dragon-types at lightning speed, relentlessly slashing at them both until they collapsed, the mighty purple dragon then crying out in triumph and faded away.  
“Damn…” Malachite cursed, putting his Pokémon back in their selective balls, the pale, pink-haired employee doing the same as Lilac just finished off the Ledian.  
Both groups were breathing heavily, both Silvally and Lilac taking a few steps closer to the three white-clothed people with low growls even although they both looked exhausted.  
“I liked you Malachite. I was even dumb enugh to trust you, but right now I would really appreciate it if you told us all the information you know about Emerald..err the ultra beast.”  
“Yes, you should do that.” Wicke chimed in, “for starters could you tell us why he acts-”  
The Branch Chief took in several shaky breaths muttering something about breathing before clearing his thought visibility calmer as he fiddled with the thing in his pocket and stepped forward not flinching as the Beware flexed her gigantic paw, the two employees cowering behind him, “You aren’t threatening us, are you? That would be extremely unwise if you were. Even if it's late and the whole islands, for the most part, is a ghost town. There’s a police station not too far from here,” he said, tilting his head in the station’s direction, “If I yelled for help right now they would come running and you two would be in a lot of trouble for threatening us. Don’t let this get any worse than its already gotten and put your Pokémon up… please.”  
Gladion’s expression twisted in anger, how dare Malachite! Hiding behind the blue coats and gold badges of the police. The man he once knew as brave was now nothing more than a coward!  
The boy was just about to yell at the man when Wicke sighed and put her Beware back in her ball, “Do it Gladion… you know they would believe Malachite over us. He’s not going to tell us anything about Emerald.”  
Gladion hesitated but did what was told after the woman gave him a stern glare.  
She was right… if they hurt Malachite they would be a whole new world of trouble.  
The Alolan police had never been the best, they never even investigated mother for the abuse claims he knew a few employees including Wicke and was pretty sure black-haired employee named Roy had made after all. It proved that they would never in a million years take their side.  
“Thank you, you were making Clare and Alice very uncomfortable.”  
Gladion only glared at the Aether women not really giving a flying fuck about their feeling as Wicke bowed at the grunts, “I apologize you two, you probably don’t have much to do with this. I promise I was never going to hurt you.”  
Malachite taped his boot a few times and ran his gloved hand through his wavy hair, “Look I don’t want to do this, but I can tell neither of you are going to cooperate with us. I’m sorry, but if you continue to keep the Fabeast or... Emerald as you call the stupid thing, away from us I’m afraid you may lose your home along with what’s left of your money Ms. Wicke.” he said solemnly.  
“You can’t do that!” Gladion snarled curling his hands into fists as Wicke gaped at the man.  
“Of course I can, you’re keeping Aether Foundation property from me..... Gladion, kid I like you, and I’m sorry if you feel betrayed but at least think about it okay? This ultra beast isn’t worth what you’ll lose. Besides, even if you do continue to hide it, this island is small. You will slip up eventually. We will find it, that’s not an if. It’s your choice if you become homeless or not Ms. Wicke or possibly even end up in jail. Those two professors might wind up there as well if it comes to that. They are close to Ms. Lillie, after all, it would be odd if they didn’t know anything.  
“Malachite…They aren’t involved in this!”  
“Ya! So leave them the hell out of this!” Gladion yelled at the man, hating how truly sorry the man looked.  
“I will do it, but only if it’s completely necessary, I don’t want to drag them into this either, they’re good people… when you come to your senses you know where to find me or we will be seeing you when we find the Fabeast. Either way, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other soon. And… for the record I am really sorry that things had to wind up this way.” He sighed and with that Malachite and the others begin walking in the direction of the Pokémon center.  
“F-filthy coward! Gladion muttered feeling hurt once again, Malachite had gone off the deep end this time.  
“Malachite wait!” Wicke said stepping forward before the three could get too far.  
The man stopped walking, “What is it Ms.Wicke?” he asked without turning around, “I’m not going to answer if it’s about the Fabea-”  
“It’s not. Malachite, please be honest with me. Did Faba really quit?”  
Malachite was quiet for a moment before he chuckled, a soft, low noise that made even the two employees look unnerved, “You’re a nice lady Ms. Wicke, you really shouldn’t be worrying so much over someone as awful and arrogant as Faba. I never really understood why you two were ever friends to begin with. He's a cold-hearted bastard. He doesn’t deserve you.”  
“You didn’t answer her question…” Gladion said calmly not liking that laugh in the slightest as alarm bells went off like crazy in his head even if he hated the man, “Where the hell is Faba at?”  
“I don’t know where he is at this exact moment. He ran off somewhere. If you’re looking for that asshole, I doubt you’ll ever see him the way you expect too ever again or anyone else for that matter.” The man said in an overly amused tone of voice as he was unable to help himself from telling them what he currently was.  
The two women looked confused and even a little scared as Wickes’s face hardened, “What’s that supposed to mean Malachite?”  
The blue-green eyes man turned to her, his lips twitching into a large sadistic smile that almost bested Lusamine’s, “What do you think it means? No matter how hard anyone including yourself look you’re not going to find him the way you left him. Not even if you searched for the rest of your life.”  
Gladion felt a chill go down his spine, Wicke had said mother had been acting strange around him… was she right to worry?  
had she really done something to her most loyal or was Malachite just playing with them? or with Wicke more specifically.  
Wicke paled, “W-what, n-never see him again? Did Lusamine hurt him!? Please Malachite, tell me! Did she do something to him!? What did she do to him!? WHAT DID SHE DO!? I'll... I'll call the international police if you don’t tell me right now! ”  
Malachites only reply to her was his grin widening into another chuckle leaving his mouth as if Wicke had just told him a clever joke, then he turned his head away from them, “Fine… call them then. We have papers signed by Faba himself saying he quit and I think you know the police won't look too far into it just because he hasn't been calling you he's always had big ambitions, after all, you think they would believe he would sit around in Alola and not move to somewhere big like Unova? Just give up Wicke. The man is gone, it's not like anyone besides you would miss his ass anyway.” With that, he continued to walk to the Pokémon center, with the employees following once again, but at a distance this time.  
Wicke froze for a moment before walking towards them, rage and fear now present in her own green eyes, “MALACHITE YOU BASTARD! You get back here RIGHT NOW! TELL ME WHAT SHE DID! TELL ME DAMN IT! Is… he okay? Please… please tell me.”  
“Wicke stop!” Gladion hissed a little afraid at the women's attitude, having never heard her curse before, grabbing her arm and pulling her back best he could as her hand hovered dangerously close to her Beware’s pokéball, “I completely understand why you want to break his legs, but you need to calm down! Attacking them isn’t going to do anything but get the police involved like you said!”  
It took her a moment but the women stopped following them, her body noticeably trembling.  
Wicke took in a few deep breaths, “You’re right Gladion… that was stupid on my part and here I was scolding you for becoming upset with them.”  
“It’s fine Wicke. I would have reacted the same way if they said the same thing to me, but about Lillie. I wouldn’t listen to Malachite anyways. He’s probably just saying that to get a reaction out of you. I’m sure Faba’s really just fine. Knowing him he's probably chatting some randos ear off about how to quote on quote amazing he is at absolutely everything," he told her and even a part of himself to an extent.  
“I hope to Arceus Malachite was just bluffing, but there was something about his eyes…” Wicke swallowed and glanced in the direction Emerald and Lillie had run off to, “We need to start looking for your sister, hopefully, she caught up to Emerald.” she said abruptly and Gladion could see that she was still shaking slightly, “I can worry about this later… you’re right, Malachite was probably just saying that to get to me and it definitely worked.”  
Gladion gave the women a worried look, but nodded, “We better hurry If we don’t want Malachite and his gang finding them first, good thing we have a head start.”  
“O..of course,” Wicke said a slight shake to her voice and movement as she picked up the Hypno plush from the group that the employee must have dropped, “now let’s get going, shall we? Emerald is probably missing this.”  
Gladion nodded and the two quickly got going with Wickes worries basically radiating so strongly from his body even Gladion could feel it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emerald/Faba: *Shivers and whimpers pathetically*  
> Gladion: "What? Is he still cold? It's not even that chilly out and that ultra beast of yours is shaking!"  
> Lillie: "poor Emerald is almost always cold... I'm not sure why. The blankets help a little, but I wish there was something more I could do to keep him warm."  
> Gladion: "warm huh? Well, I think I have an idea but its to make you feel better! Not that beast!  
> Lillie: "Okay then! what is it?"  
> Gladion: "You'll see I just have to make it first.."  
> -later-  
> Lillie: "awww Gladion It's perfect, it's even green and has holes for his stingers! I didn't know you knew had to knit! Emerald looks really cute, It looks like he really likes it!"  
> Gladion: "Ya whatever.. I had to fix my clothes somehow... and knitting can be...fun I guess and like I said I made it more for you and to get the stupid thing to stop whining about the cold."  
> Emerald/Faba (in a green sweater): *happy gurgling*  
> Gladion: "Ugh..you're welcome, just don't rip it up okay? Or the next one I'll knit; 'spoiled brat' on the front you got it?"  
> Emerald/Faba: *wags tail*


	23. The Wrong Claws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Emerald is moved to a surprising new location and troubling things are discussed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I say my usual hellos I would like to say I'm sorry you guys had to wait so long for the next chapter, mostly because I really wanted to edit this chapter to utter perfection, pun intended and.... because I was waiting for a certain ocean boy of mine to be drawn... or AKA that little gift I was talking about two chapters ago.  
> Heads up It Isn't my art!! Isn't!! I asked her and she very kindly gave me permission to post it as long as I give her the credit she deserves of course so you guys should deffently check her out as at the moment she's doing crazy cheap commissions!!  
> This is her link if you want to check her out (you totally should my boy looks amazing); https://www.instagram.com/autumnhitrokbottom/  
> So, ya a big thank you to them!!  
> This chapter isn't all to existing and the next one will have a lot more in it but this one has that amazing art I was talking about and hears he is my boy Malachite!!!;  
> 

Gladion and Wicke had been walking for almost forty minutes now and hadn’t found even the slightest trace Lillie or Emerald.  
They had checked the cave and the area around it, near the professor's house and the shores it stood by and found absolutely nothing.  
No claw marks, no footprints, or even half-eaten cookies.  
“Come on Faba pick up! Please pick up!” Wicke pleaded, her phone buzzing in her hand as they walked up route one for the third time.  
Their way just barely lit by the moon and stars that hung in the night sky, “Please, please… just pick up!”  
The buzzing went on for a few moments before stopping, Fabas voicemail repeating itself from the speaker; “Hello! It is I, Branch Chief Faba! I’m obviously much too busy to answer your call, so you may leave a voicemail if you wish, but only If the subject matter you are calling me about is urgent, do not expect me to call back right away If you do, I'm a very busy and important man after all! I have not the time for matters of the smallest importance such as your-” and with that Faba’s would be monologue was cut off with a beep.  
For a second the women looked angry, her grip tightening on the phone before she sighed and pushed the call button again as she nervously toyed with the Hypno plush that was still in her other hand.  
“Wicke like I said, Malachite was lying when he said all that shi.. stuff about Faba, he was even smiling! He obviously thought toying with you was funny!” Gladion huffed at her, more than a little annoyed at how quickly the purpled-haired women had switched back her worries about Faba after not even ten minutes of searching especially since she hadn’t even started worrying yet about Malachite’s threats towards her.  
Was it really worth looking for this thing if it made Wicke brush everything else that concerned her aside?  
Those threats sounded serious, so why wasn’t she concerned about them?  
“I thought you said you would worry about Faba later! we need to find Lillie now! and besides, even if Faba’s not working for once he’s probably asleep at this hour. All the work he’s done the past few years at Aether probably made him hibernate for at least a few years to make up for all the time he didn’t spend sleeping”  
“Faba sleeping?” Wicke chuckled bitterly, “you really don’t know him at all, do you?”  
Gladion looked taken aback for a moment then shrugged, “I guess I don’t, It’s just… I…. look I know you hate it when I make assumptions about him and your relationship with him, but it’s hard to see any positive qualities in a person when they’re constantly acting like a pri… Jerk. He… I just… I’ve never understood why you seem to think he’s such a good person because he's not!”  
“I never said he was a good person Gladion…” she said softly as the phone went to voicemail again, “but he's not nearly as bad as you make him out to be.”  
Gladion huffed angrily, “I doubt that… what he did to Silvally and Nebby… It was evil! Even worse than what Malachite did to Emerald! At least Malachite never put a damn helmet on him and froze him away to never get a chance at living his life outside a damn lab! And after what he did to me and Lillie… what he didn’t do…”  
Wicke frowned, “Malachite put a shock collar on Emerald, didn’t he and regarding the helmet and why it was put on... you saw what one of the Type: Null's did to poor Reganold.… I’m not saying what they did to it in response was right… but, he was just lucky Faba got the Type: Null away from him before it killed him.” the woman sighed and rubbed her forehead, “I’m not making excuses for him, but I want you to know that he felt no real pleasure in hurting the Type: Nulls or Cosmog. He did it because it was his job Gladion.”  
The blond boy wrinkled his nose not wanting to think about that awful testing day with Type: Null that he had the misfortune of watching before the scientist named Roy pulled him away like he usually did when something bad happened, the other man’s screams of pain carrying down the hall, it was easier for him to believe the Type: nulls were entirely innocent and did no wrong and Faba was the evil scientist laughing at their pain behind the glass, but deep down he knew that wasn't the whole truth, “For science… Not you too Wicke! I hate it when people say doing heinous acts is okay if its all for damn science! They were basically doing a repeat of what Team Rocket did all those years ago when the idiots had the bright idea to clone Mew when they made the Silvallys! How can that be justified?!”  
“It’s not that simple Gladion,” Wicke told him calmly as she hit the call button once again, “The majority of what he did… Yes, it was for science and fame of course, but that particular experiment at least was for the quote on quote 'greater good of Alola.' Whenever Ultra Beast started appearing and hurting people, they made the creation so stop them, to protect people unlike Team Rocket and the Mew clone, they made the poor thing for power and power alone.”  
“And so they made Silvally.” Gladion murmured.  
Wicke nodded, “Yes they needed a weapon, one that had to be made as quickly as possible. The ultra beast had already... killed a few people, after all, they didn’t want any more casualties. They were supposed to be made mindless, non-sentient weapons. Faba failed in that regard and refused to take the time to try and befriend them. He said it would take too long, like I said the ultra beasts were killing people, so many employees quit after that…”  
The woman paused for a moment, “As for Cosmog… things were a lot more personal with it, but I suppose you know that don’t you?”  
“Ya... I do. Nebby was the only thing left when Father disappeared. Using It was the only chance Mother and Faba had of finding him alive even if it meant severely hurting Nebby.” Gladion mumbled.  
“To them, It really was their only hope. They both hurt Cosmog so much. In fact, one of the biggest fights I got into with him is when I found him hurting poor Cosmog in the middle of the night in his main laboratory. I’ve never seen him act… so desperately or do anything even near that extensive. I even ended up slapping him after he said some chosen words to me about Cosmog’s pain meaning nothing to him if it meant finding your father!”  
“Wait… you really hit him?!” Gladion asked several emotions flashing across his face.  
“I did, harder than I meant to actually. Even if we are friends I’m surprised he didn’t demote or fire me! I gave him a nasty bruise. I know how It looked on my part to see him like that, he looked like a demon, but I know he never had any cruel or evil when he hurt that poor creature, he wanted Mohn back more than anything in the world and it badly clouded his judgment.”  
Gladion snorted, “You're just making excuses for him! If this is supposed to make me forgive him you’re doing a bad-”  
“It’s not.” Wicke said firmly, “I’m not asking you to forgive him for anything he did, I’m just trying to put it in perspective. It really hurts me how much you two seem to dislike each other. I care about you both so much and… to me at least you and Faba are a lot alike when it comes to certain things.”  
“I’m nothing like him!” Gladion growled defensively.  
The woman chuckled softly and pushed her glasses more on her face rubbing the Hypno plush in circular motions with her thumb, “Faba told me the exact same thing. You two really are so stubborn like that. You and him are always so determined and unlikely to quit when you have your mind set on something... You both even share an amusing talent for insulting others and calling them out when they're doing something that isn’t the smartest.”  
Gladion looked away from her as the woman directed her attention back to her phone.  
Now that his eyes were on the trial he could spot a white dot running up to them from the darkness.  
“Vul Vulpix!” the little white Pokémon cried running up to the two of them with Lillie following closely behind.  
“Lillie!” Gladion cried and ran the rest of the distance to her, “where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you!”  
“Did you find Emerald, dear?” Wicke asked her in a hushed tone.  
The blond girl nodded, “I did! just come with me. Emerald’s in a really safe place, but he was really scared when Snowy and I left! We should hurry and get back before he gets even more spooked!”  
“Lead the way, just be careful, Malachite and the others must’ve healed their Pokemon by now.” Gladion warned. “I’ll be careful,” Lillie promised than quickly headed even further up route one, took the left trail then slowly began walking up the stone stairs to Iki town.  
Behind her Wicke and Gladion slowed, “Umm Lillie Is Emerald really over here? This isn’t a good place to hide him there are-”  
“Shhh!” Lillie quieted her brother, “trust me it’s fine!” she soothed than walked past first the first set of houses and up the second flight of stairs and started towards what Gladion knew as Kahuna Hala’s house.  
The two froze, “Lillie this is-” Wicke started.  
“Trust me!” Lillie cut her off, “Hala isn’t even on the island right now! He’s on Akala looking for Emerald with the other Kahunas! Just come in it's safe! I promise!”  
Gladion and Wicke hesitated, but obeyed not commenting until Lillie opened the door and stepped into the house, “Hau It’s me! I found the others. You can let Emerald out now!”  
The door to the far-right creaked open and a tan-skinned boy stepped out who was a lot taller than Gladion remembered, a usual warm smile on his face.  
“Alola, Gladion! Alola Ms. Wicke! It’s really good to see you again!”  
Gladion rolled his eyes at Hau, his lip twitching as if to suppress a smile.  
“It’s nice to see you too Hau, I didn’t know you were coming back to your home so soon. Did Lillie tell you about-”  
Before Wicke could finish Emerald suddenly darted out of the room and past Hau’s legs.  
“W-Woah!” the boy exclaimed, nearly falling over as the ultra beast scampered over to Wicke, whining loudly and violently trembling.  
“Kkk..kkkk..kk..kiii!” The creature shrieked loudly.  
“Poor Emerald! He’s shaking even worse than when I left! It’s okay Emerald! Its okay boy. I’m right here! Ms. Wicke’s right here! It’s going to be okay. We’re not going to let Mr. Malachite or anyone else hurt you!” The girl said softly crouching down and petting his mane, Snowy nuzzling his leg as the creature leaned his face against Wickes’s leg making an odd sniffing sound along with the strange clicking sounds as the women kneeled down to comfort the spooked creature, putting his plushie besides him.  
Hau’s smile fell, “I’m sorry Lillie, I tried to calm him down like you told me, but I don’t think he likes closed doors… or me very much. I think he was sneering at me too and he refused to take those painkillers you told me to try and give him!”  
Lillie told Hau to give him more pain killers?  
He thought she had been giving him plenty, but then again even when his wounds weren’t that bad, he would offten whine for odd reasons and wince when he walked as if he was still in pain.  
Almost making Gladidion wonder if his pain was beneath the iternal.  
“We can sneak them to the dumb thing latter…and I wouldn’t worry too much about the sneering, that thing doesn’t like me either. It might be because were males now that I’m thinking about it..” Gladion trailed off, a certain blue-haired man flashing in his thoughts.  
“So, did Lillie tell you everything then Hou?” Wicke asked, looking up to him.  
“Umm, for the most part, I think.”  
“Good,” Gladion started glancing to one of the windows, “I really didn’t want to go over everything all over again, but on more import matters… I think we should try and move Emerald someplace less inhabited maybe neer Tapu Coco’s shrine or something.”  
“Why? A Kahuna's house is the perfect place to hide him Gladion! No one would think to look here and Hala isn’t coming back any time soon!”  
“Ya! Grandfather said he's not going to stop looking until he finds Emerald on one of the other islands!” Hau added, “he told me so on Akala! and that I should go home to keep a lookout sense he and all the island captains are gone!”  
Wicke frowned and scratched the ultra beast’s ears, “I don’t know Lillie, Malachite and the other’s will surely get the word out about Emerald being on Melemele and everyone will flock here.”  
Gladion’s demeanor unexpected relaxed at this, “Actually I don’t think they will, I’m not crazy about the idea either, but I doubt Malachite’s going to let this get out if he can help it. He wants to capture Emerald alive for mother. All the Kahuna's want to kill him.”  
Everyone in the room cringed, as Hou perked back up “And, even if the word got out to the others Kahunas, Grandfather doesn’t trust Aether Paradise at all anymore, so he wouldn’t believe them. He was suspicious of them before, but after me and him found that hurt employee on the bea-”  
The employee? Malachite’s friend?  
“Woah, wait. Hala and you were the ones to find that Daymond guy!? I thought someone on a boat just fished him out of the ocean.” Gladion cut him off.  
Hau stared at them, “Ya! I was visiting with Grandfather...I think you were out with the Professor at the time Lillie." he quickly added at the blond girls look, "and we just found him unconscious and bloody on the shore. A nice Mantine carried him the whole way here hoping to help him! Grandfather thought he would bleed out before the ambulance got there. He was hurt pretty bad and he lost a lot of blood, his poor Pelliper too. Grandfather said If he had any more than three of those deep cuts on him he most likely would've died.."  
“Three? Mr. Daymond had three scratches on him?! You’re sure it wasn’t any more?! Like on all the others?” Wicke nearly yelled, making Emerald flinch a bit.  
“I’m sure! They were really big too. Grandfather and the others think the Fabea- I mean Emerald might have used dragon claw, metal claw or scratch on him.”  
The woman looked down to the ultra beast with her mouth agape as Gladion and Lillie exchanged baffled looks as they all realized the same thing.  
“It wasn’t Emerald…” Gladion muttered.  
Hau gazed at the blond boy, “huh?”  
“Emerald!” Lillie continued, “He can’t have been the one to hurt Mr. Daumond, he has five claws not three and he doesn’t even know any moves like that. When he attacked all the others he just jumped on them and clawed them all over!! He couldn’t have thrown him like that either, at least not that far… Someone else had to hurt him!”  
“Vulpix! Pix!” Snowy barked pointing at Emerald’s claws.  
The house went dead silent except for the distant sound of the wilderness and Emerald’s whining as he anxiously fiddled with his claws.  
“But… If he didn’t do it… I don’t like it, but that can only mean it was someone else at the foundation with their Pokémon!” Wicke gasped.  
“S-someone at Aether Paradise!! But why would they do that?” Hau asked, in confused horror.  
Gladion’s eyes widened, realizing Malachites exact words he had yelled at him and looked to Wicke, “Wicke! Malachite, He never said Emerald was the one who clawed Mr. Daymond! He just said it was his fault he got hurt!”  
Wicke curled up her fingers in Emerald's fur, “I’m not sure if I want to believe that man’s words right now. He just threatened to take my home and put Kukui and Burnet in jail.." she started looking into to Lillie's eyes, she girl gasping at the words and put a hand over her mouth, "just because they house someone who sheltered Emerald! For all we know he could just be saying that...”  
Emerald whined at the Branch Chief's name as Wicke shook her head and huffed angrily, “If he really was telling the truth though I suppose... He did mention how Emerald was acting friendly around him before of course the poor man got thrown into the ocean,” she said then paused for a moment thinking hard, “You know It's strange he was found only a few mere days after Emeraled ecaped.... and witht he ecape I know he didn’t escape off a boat owned by Aether. It was from a pokebean delivery one. I thought it was odd at first that he just so happened to wonder to the balcony area undetected where the boat was just so happening to pass by and he went as far as to jump onto it... I think the only exclamation is that Daymond helped Emerald escape.”  
“And they must have caught him before Mr. Daymond got the chance to jump on with him and hurt him for helping Emerald, that must be why Emerald was friendly with him!!” Lillie suddenly gasped and swallowed, turning to her brother, “Oh no… Gladion! The other employee’s! I don’t think they would go as far as to hurt Mr. Daymond this badly, I could has sword most of them liked him! Do you think mother might have been the one to do it?”  
Gladion looked away with a scowl, “I’m… uncertain of that... She’s hurt employees before, just never this bad. I can definitely see her doing it though.”  
“You think Mrs. Lusamine would really?... That… that's awful.” Hau muttered softly, “I guess If that’s really is what happened, it explains why they wouldn’t tell any of the kahunas anything else about Mr. Daymond or the full story of what happened to him. They’ve been really quiet lately for a while now, except for saying that they want Emerald back.”  
“This is bad.” Wicke said softly, “Lusamine has done horrible things in the past, but this… she could have very well killed Daymond!”  
Once again they all went silent with Lillie looking the most distressed out of all of them, sniffling softly and biting her lip.  
With a worried whine, Emerald gently nudged Lillie’s hand and Snowy jumped up to lick her trainers face.  
The girl only shuddered and pulled them both closer to her.  
“Hau, tell me was Daymond taken to the hospital here on Melemele island?” Wicke asked eventually.  
Hau nodded numbly.  
“He’s that close!? Then maybe we can go to visit him! Ask him if it was mother who hurt him! We could even ask him about Emerald! He probably knows at least something right?” Lillie asked shakily and absentmindedly ran her hand down the ultra beasts skull.  
Wicke put a hand on her chin, “Mr. Daymond was one of the top rehabilitators and trainers for abused and hurt Pokémon and worked especially close with Malachite the last time I was there, even if they weren’t on the same department… I’m sure he would know something we don’t.”  
Gladion’s eyebrows furrowed, “That’s not the worst idea, but Malachite and who knows how many other Aether employees are bound to be swarming the island by the time the hospital opens tomorrow! They’ll definitely see us walking around!”  
Hau grounded and slouched in on himself, “That wouldn’t be good. If only Emerald could be in two places at the same time! Then all the employees wouldn’t be anywhere near the hospital and out running after the other one.”  
A light instantly went off in Gladion’s head the, boy instantly perked up, nearly smiling at the tan boy.  
“Two places at once… Hau that’s it! If I just get…” the boy paused to pull out one of his many pokéballs, “Pandora come out!”  
“Zor!! Zoroark!” The dark type barked as he appeared on the ground and nuzzled Gladion’s cheek with a wagging tail as he grudgingly pat his head.  
“Gladion that’s genius!” Lillie praised as Emerald let out an unsure whine at the sight of the Pokémon, then knowing what Gladion was about to do and not wanting to take any chances of the scaly beast freaking out Lillie covered his eyes and gently hugged him as her brother pointed at Emerald and commanded his Pokémon to transform.  
The Zoroark blinked in confusion at the foreign creature but did as it was told.  
His form becoming consumed by a bright pink light, the dark types fur drawing in, tail becoming slimmer and more angler and his posture changing from two to four.  
The changes continuing until the bright pink light faded away, a near-perfect copy of Emerald in Pandora’s place. “Good Pandora. Now there are Aether Paradise employees on this island. There’s only three for now, but there will definitely be more later. They really want the creature you are at the moment, so I want you to lead them as far away from us and the hospital as you can. Give them a wild Swanna chase, maybe even let them see you jump on a boat. Just whatever you do, don’t let them catch you or change back in front of them, understood?”  
The dark-type nodded with an awareness that Emerald didn’t have and sprinted out the door as soon as Wicke stood up and opened the door for him.  
Moving more agile than the ultra beast ever had, almost like Pandora was somehow more comfortable in the body than Emerald was.  
“Good luck Pandora!” Hau called after him and waved as Lillie removed her hand from Emerald’s eyes, “Be careful.” Lillie murmured as her brother quickly closed the door.  
“Well now that’s settled we should probably eat and get to sleep. The hospital opens relatively early and we want to get there as soon as possible.” Wicke said calmly  
“Awww, already? I kind of wanted to catch up with all of you. I saw so much when I was traveling the other islands, It would take all night!”  
“Well you yourself don’t have to Hau, I don’t think It would be a good idea for you to come along with us. If we do run into an employee they’ll know for sure your involved and put two and two together that Emerald is probably at your house,” Gladion said firmly. Hau visibly deflated, “Oh… okay, that makes sense. I guess... I can watch Emerald for you when you’re gone then! Maybe we can even be friends and I can try introducing him to Pancake! And maybe Giga and Cloves and-”  
“Maybe just one of your Pokémon for now Hau. Emerald is still a little wary of other Pokémon sometimes, and yours can be overly playful.” Gladion said with a roll of his eyes, reminded at all times that Hau’s overly affectionate Raichu would zap him by rubbing his cheeks with the blondes.  
“Okay!” Hau smiled, “I can’t wait! Hear that Emerald!? You and Pancake can be friends!”  
The creature pulled away from Wicke, Lillie, and Snowy to huff at the boy.  
Now a lot calmer by this point.  
“Well! You're probably all starving by this point. Hau, why don’t you show me where everything is in the kitchen? Oh and I’ll make something for everyone and Lillie while I do that could you please heal Lilac and Silvally? It’s probably not a good idea to run over to the Pokémon center right now.”  
“Sure, Ms. Wicke!”  
“O-of course I will Ms. Wicke.”  
Lillie and Hau both replied, the blond girl taking Wicke’s and Gladion’s pokéballs from them to one of the couches, already letting out Lilac and Silvally, putting her bag on the ground to dig out the endless potions and heals.  
"don't Emerald worry I'll make you something to eat as well, I suppose It wouldn't hurt to allow you to eat the same thing we will, you've already eaten more than enugh of it," Wicke told Emerald as he winded at her as she started to the kitchen with Hou.  
“K.kkk.kkk.iee?” Emerald uttered, picking up the Hypno plush in his mouth about to follow her when Lillie called to him, “Hey Emerald come back over here, please! I probably need to rebandage your wounds.”  
“Beware!” The fighting-type agreed with a nod, lowering her head and moving her paws closer to her body to take up less of the living room as Silvally thrilled and let Gladion pet it.  
Emerald still looked slightly wary of Silvally, but to Gladion’s surprise, looked back to Wicke for a moment before cocking his head at the Beware and slowly approached her.  
What?! It was twitchy around Silvally and yet seamed to like Lilac with her huge bone-crushing paws!? “This is Lilac, Emerald! She’s Mrs. Wickie’s Pokémon!” Lillie told him as she started to heal the burns on Silvallys sides.  
“Wareeeee Bewareee.” Lilac murmured softly and gently pat the ultra beast on the head without even giving the creature an odd look at his off-putting appearance.  
Gladion smiled faintly, watching in amusement as Emerald stared at the Beware's paw then his claws and copied its motions moving a pair of claws up and down and in a petting motion then looked up to Lilac who nodded and pet him again.  
The beast gurgled, placing his Hypno toy on the floor to pat the plush’s head.  
“Awww, come on Gladion you have to admit that’s really cute!”  
The blond boy quickly wiped the smile off his face and leaned back on the couch, “no it’s not, I was just thinking of a joke! I already told you, that thing is not cute!” he huffed, turning his head and refusing to watch as the creature went over to Snowy and patted her on the head as well.  
“Pixxx!” the ice-type barked happily the creature and wagged her tails.  
“So adorable!” Lillie gushed, “see Gladion he's petting Snowy! Oh! I need to get a picture of this..”  
“Still not cute!” Gladion said again, watching out of the corner of his eye as Silvally leaned its head down to the beast and thrilled a few times.  
Gladion jerked his head to his partner, did Silvally want Emerald to pet it?!  
Traitor, he thought half-heartedly.  
The ultra beast whined nervously, not looking to keen on the idea until Snowy gently nudged his leg and Lilac nodded.  
“Oh! Looks like Silvally wants you to pet it too Emerald!” Lillie told the creature as she sprayed Silvally with hyper potions.  
“Go on, you can pet Silvally to if you want. It doesn’t bite... anymore that is,” the blond boy added.  
Something flashed in Emerald’s eyes at this, the words making him even more hesitant as he crept over to Silvally, looking away as he reached out a pair of claws to it.  
The chimera didn’t hesitate to meet his claws and thrilled softly.  
Emerald pat Silvally for a moment them moved his claws back staring at them and Silvally in surprised.  
“See Gladion! Silvally and Emerald can be friends! I think… he was more scared of Silvally than he hated him in the first place..”  
“Maybe..” Gladion grumbled unable to deny how scared the creature really seemed to be around Silvally.  
The blond boy sighed and leaned back into the couch as Lillie continued to heal the Pokémon with Emerald continuing to pet them.  
He looked into the kitchen for a moment to watch Wicke and Hau shuffling about, noticing the deep frown on her face and how she kept shoving her hand in her pocket to check for any possible new messages on her phone.  
She was still definitely still worrying about Faba then.  
Was Wicke really right to worry so much about him?  
He did think that Malachite was pulling their leg, but another part of him wasn’t so sure.  
Just because Faba’s loyalty to the foundation at least was unwavering, didn’t mean his mother wouldn’t have harmed him if he stepped out of line or said something she didn’t like.  
He had seen her hurt him before after all.  
He didn’t support or like the friendship between Faba and Wicke, but he knew the man probably wasn’t too happy when his mother fired her, mad enough to say something to her, yell?  
Faba could be nasty when someone ticked him off, he knew that better than most and if he went off like that at mother she would have definitely hurt him.  
She had hurt other employees for much less.  
At this thought, something lurched in Gladion’s chest.  
It wasn’t painful and didn’t hurt, but it was currently noticeable.  
Was he really concerned? For Faba?!  
Surely not he hated the bastard, the worry was for Wicke’s sake if anything. Because If something really did happen to Faba, if he really did snap at his mother Gladion had a feeling she would do so much worse to him than just scratch his face.  
Oh so much worse, because deep down he knew his mother was monster.  
~  
Lillie sighed in annoyance and rolled back over on her right side.  
Everyone else was sound asleep in the many beds in the room, that was based on Hou’s words used for the staff when they were actually here.  
On the other side of the room, she could see Wicke having what looked like extremely restless sleep two beds over, Emerald was on the bed next to her, his scale cover head facing the green-eyed women.  
His normal lying position reminding her of the strange sitting posture he had used at the dinner table earlier when Wicke finished dinner. It was almost… human in a sense.  
She loved Emerald, but the ultra beast could really freak her out sometimes.  
Strangely enough, for how clingy the creature was to Wicke, the beast had refused to sleep in the same bed with her or Lillie when they offered and slept on the bed between them, under the covers with his body stretched out and clutching the Hypno plush close to his chest.  
It was probably for the better anyhow as she had seen the creature thrash in his sleep before with claws that probably would have slashed open Wickes back if he had another nightmare.  
She closed her eyes again, pulling the sleeping Snowy closer to her chest in an attempt to lull herself to sleep, but her mind just wouldn’t keep quiet as it ran ramped about thoughts of her mother.  
What was Mr. Daymond going to tell them when they got to his hospital room?  
Things about Emerald of course, but what about her mother?  
Would he tell them that mother had really hurt him?  
Her wondered to another place for a moment, would she agree with Malachite about the threats he made, or refuse to go through with them?  
Her mother wouldn’t be that heartless… right?  
Her mother hurt so many Pokémon and people in the past.  
Her and Gladion probably the worst of all… those horrid memories still hung in clear in her mind, even more, clear than the good memories with her. The girl shuddered softly in a way that wasn’t caused by the chilliness of her partner’s white fur as she buried her face into it.  
No… she was being selfish again.  
The Pokémon they helped and couldn't help had been hurt way worse condition then she and Gladion had!  
The abuse on them wasn’t that bad compared to some of the others!  
The women had never intentionally left any permanent marks or even bruises unlike some of the poor employees who Lillie new bore facial scars from her mother’s long nails and unlike her and Gladion were all easily replaceable 'property' in her mother's eyes.  
Had it been because she couldn't go as far as to hurt him in that way or just to avoid leaving any scars on the people who she used to consider perfect?  
Lillie wanted to believe the first part, but she knew deep down that she just didn’t want to mark her ‘property’ as her mother did still hurt her and Gladion from time to time in blind fits of rage.  
Lillie could so clearly remember what her mother did to the both of them or used to do to her when she was under her care.  
She would pull both of their hair, deprive them of food to avoid them getting ‘fat’, she would put them in very small, claustrophobic spaces for extremely long time outs for misbehaviors, throw them out into the cold rain whenever they back talked her, on the rare occasion she would even slap them only to quickly get rid of handprint she left behind muttering on how he can’t ruin them like that. Now Lillie thought about it, those things were really hardly anything to make a fuss about!  
It could have been a lot worse than when she would also call them names that not even the meanest of school bullies would call someone and separate her and her brother and always spend the most time with her.  
Her mother's mothers voice echoed in her head for a moment as she told Lillie to her face that she loved her so much more than her brother, even before he ran off and how he was nothing compared to her.  
She was her mother’s perfect little creation her brother was the leftover mistake.  
Lillie had received only a handful of these punishments from her mother staying quiet and obedient, she didn’t want to upset or make her mother unhappy, she loved her!  
Gladion, on the other hand, was another story and had received far more slaps and bruises that mother would blame him for ‘making her’ mark his flesh and would lock him in the closet.  
Now that Lillie thought about it her mother blamed Gladion for a lot of unnecessary things like the time when she blamed him for the destruction of some of her kitchen supplies when it had been one of her pokemon.  
That night was horrendous as she remembered Gladions cries as Lusamine spanked him far beyond the number of fifty times and even hit around his back area.  
Gladion always was the one who received the worst punishment's and was the one to get the worst one of them all.  
She could still remember that one the most specific of them all, one that made him act out more aggressively to her mother and everyone around him, which led to him running away with the Type: Null.  
The day when Gladion had yelled at one of the board members for saying something crude her mother failed to hear...  
She remembered following as she dragged Gladion to their rooms and his agonized screams and sobs as she pulled his arm out of his socket.  
Wicke had been called asking what had happened and her mother claimed he had fallen which Lillie had agreed with after her mother gave her a firm look.  
Gladion's look of betrayal and hurt break though, hurt her more than any punishment she would have gotten from telling the truth.  
All these bad memories were so painful and vivid, so scary and laced with the childlike confusion of why her once loving mother was doing this to them.  
About what her and Gladion did they do to deserve this?  
Lillie shook her head in bed nearly causing Snowy to stir, but not wake up. Sure a lot of what her mother did was wrong, but mother was still redeemable!  
Mother could see that what she was doing was wrong! She could get better!... Couldn’t she?  
She had been hoping this for a long time, especially after Moon and her had rescued the women from ultra space. Her mother had touched her face, called her beautiful.  
Lillie thought she finally might change that she had become good enough for her, but after she woke up in the hospital wanted nothing to do with her.  
Mother hadn’t changed at all since then. She had hurt Emerald just like all the other creatures she took ownership of.  
If her mother had really hurt Mr. Daymond for helping Emerald, Lillie couldn’t help but wonder what she would have done to her and Gladion if they would have been caught making their own escapes. Should she have felt betrayed to the point where they ended up like Mr. Daymond?  
Lillie shuttered again.  
If she hurt him like that was she still redeemable?  
Could Lillie still make her see the error of her ways?  
She wasn’t so sure at the moment, her mother had almost killed an innocent man!  
That didn’t sound all too redeemable.  
The girl closed her eyes trying to push the horrible thoughts out of her head.  
She was getting ahead of herself, she still didn’t know if the women hurt Mr. Daymond in the first place! So there was no real point in thinking about it.  
She really shouldn’t have let her mind get this full, or she might be too exhausted to talk to Mr. Daymond!  
Lillie sighed, flipping over the pillow and hoping that Mr. Daymond wouldn’t tell them what she knew he probably would.  
With a troubled mind, she laid her head on her pillow.  
Upon closing her eyes she saw a brighter image with Gladion, her mother, and her long lost father all playing on the beach, all three of them ran and jumped along the sandy shores as the sea lightly crashed onto their feet.  
Her mother was the first to see her there, soon her brother and father noticed as well.  
All three greeting her with a warm smile, her mother undoubtedly having the brightest and most sincere.  
They reached out their hands for her to join them and as she reached to embrace them a tear slightly left her eye.  
No matter how close such an image may seem, deep down Lillie knew… even in her dreams. Such a reality was far away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Friend; "pokemon Shinys are so useless! I don't understand why you freak out so much when you get one and waste your time hunting them for mounts on end their just a different color pattern not to mention useless!"  
> Me; *Shrugs* The adrenalin rush, for the most part, you probably wouldn't understand unless you get one yourself. That and I don't care what you say, some of them are cool as fuck."  
> My friend; "whatever... It's not like I'm ever going to catch one."  
> -Not even ten minutes later-  
> My friend; *opens pokemon go* "Hey what does it mean when the pokemon sparkles?"  
> Me; "you lucky bitch you got a shiny."  
> My friend; "HOLY SHIT I GOT A FUCKING SHINY THIS IS AMAZING THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE HOLY SHIT!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT A SHINY!!  
> Me; "who's freaking out now you hypocrite?"


	24. The Man Who Sleeps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which visits and plans are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos everyone!! Before on about the usual LOOK AT THIS AMAZING ART MADE BY WhiteGoldEather or https://www.deviantart.com/moltenregolith;  
>   
> ITS REALLY GOOD AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE It A LOT!!  
> I APPRECIATE THEM MAKING IT SO MUCH IT DEFFENTALY MADE MY DAY AND MAKE ME SO EXCITED I RAN AROUND THE HOUSE FOR AWHILE UNTIL I SLAMMED MY KNEE IN A TABLE!!  
> heh, sorry for the caps lock, but more spectacular art has just left me really gitty!  
> I never would have thought one person would actually like this story enugh to take their time to make this amazing of art of it especially two pepole! especially considering this is the first fanfiction I have ever posted.  
> It makes me feel so happy and appreciated that I'm apparently doing good so far writing this fanfiction!  
> Sorry I got off topic I bit, I just really wanted to throw my appreciation out there, to be more on topic we get to see more people you've probably forgotten about and the plot moves further forward.  
> The next few chapters will move pretty slow and have lots of talking, but then... well let's just say our main group is in for an unpleasant ride!  
> I can already taste the emotional turmoil!  
> It..It doesn't taste very good..  
> Anyways as always I hope you enjoy this chapter and apologize in advance for the spelling errors or improper sentence structure you might see!

It was still dark out when the time came for Wicke, Gladion, and Lillie to get up and start walking to the hospital.  
They got their even earlier than expected as no delays at all we’re made by Emerald as the beast was still asleep when they woke up.  
Gladion already knew Hau was going to have a fun time with the ultra beast when he woke up and realized both Wicke and Lillie were gone.  
Hopefully, he just didn’t make too much noise.  
Surprisingly, none of them were moving or looked particularly tired or sluggish for waking up at the time they did, their paces quick enough to make their thighs ache.  
All of them were in such a hurry to talk to Daymond, equally dreading what the hurt employee would tell them about the ultra beast and what really happened to him, with Gladion being careful to keep an eye out for any glimpses of white and gold, they couldn't risk getting too comfortable even with his Zoroark distracting Malachite and the others.  
The three finished their walk with hardly a word to each other except to voice a few of their personal worry’s, and entered the tall building of the hospital.  
“Hello there! We’re all here to see Daymond Hayes, could you tell us his room number, please? we’re friends,” Wicke asked smiling warmly at the women as she walked up to the front desk.  
The brunette girl looked up from the computer monitor and smiled, “Oh more friends of Mr. Daymond’s? He's in room B25 loves. I think two more of his friends are already there!”  
“T-thank you!” Wicke told her quickly as the siblings gave each other worried looks as they began walking down the long stretch of hallways.  
“Friends?” Gladion hissed to them once the woman was out of earshot, “I have a feeling these friends are probably other employees.”  
“You think their… threatening him? To stay quiet about everything?” Lillie asked quietly.  
Wicke shook her head, “If they did they would have done it by now, and I don’t think they would threaten him when he’s still in the hospital anyhow, they have cameras.”  
Lillie nodded, “maybe they really are friends of Mr. Daymond then! They might even tell us something too if we ask!”  
“I don’t know...” Gladion grunted, “most of the employees are afraid of mother, but I guess she did put their coworker in the hospital… Just in case we should probably wait until they leave to ask Daymond anything, even if they really do turn out to be his friends.”  
“That’s probably the wisest thing we can do,” Wicke sighed, “let’s just hope they do turn out to be friendly and don’t attempt to attack us in any way.”  
“I don’t think they will with Mr. Daymond In the room,” Lillie commented, but there was a tinge to uncertainty in her voice dropping it down to a whisper as they reached the closed hospital door.  
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” A feminine voice yapped from the other side before Wicke had the chance to knock.  
“Nigel stop pulling my hair, you stupid feathery bitch! Ow! Why do you... Ow! Do this every fucking time I come here!?”  
“F-Franchesca! Just apologize! I told you insulting Daymond in front of Nigel isn't a bright idea! You know he doesn’t like you! You’re just making it worse!” a second and more timed voice replied from the room along with angry-sounding squawking.  
“Hell no! I didn’t even say anything that bloody bad this time! Ow! Stop it bird brain I’m not going to do anything to your precious trainer!” the other woman snapped back a slight accent slipping into her voice for a moment.  
“Nigel! Hey! Please stop! I think she’s learned her lesson! She didn’t mean what she said!”  
Wicke’s eyes widened at both voices and without warning quickly pushed open the door, “Rose?” the purple-haired woman asked.  
A small, pale back haired women who looked like she had been crying instantly turned and meet Wickes eyes, “M-ms. Wicke?!” she exclaimed.  
“What? Wicke!? And you two!? What the fuck are you al- Ow!!” a redhead with tan skin and hazel eyes yelped as she was currently getting her hair pulled by a pissy looking Pelipper, water already soaking her clothes presumably from one of the water-types attacks.  
The scratch marks on her face, new looking back eye and old telltale scars on her exposed arms were what caught Gladion’s attention to the red-head in particular, they looked almost like burns from a cigar and more relatively the marks on her face looked like his mother had caused them.  
He didn’t recognize either of them for a moment as they weren’t wearing any Aether uniforms with the read-head named Francesca wearing a tank top with a Weavile on it with shorts and the smaller girl apparently named Rose wearing long sleeves, pants, and a cross necklace.  
“H-hey!” Lillie cried before Gladion could pin names to there faces, “I’ve seen you two before! You’re both Aether Paradise employees!” Francesca’s head turned the best she could with a big bird attacking her to gaze at Lillie, “Oh my to be recognized by the President’s daughter. Oh, what an honor- Hey! Let go of my hair, you overgrown fish eating cunt!” The red heat spat out the heavy accent coming back for a moment.  
A flip switched In Gladion’s mind.  
He remembered these now!  
He was pretty sure Rose was the grunt that actively talked to Faba, the only one who didn't talk shit about him behind his back to the others and didn’t seem to be afraid or intimidated by him, unlike so many of the other grunts and as for Franchesca…  
Gladion narrowed her eyes at her, he recognized her voice and that strange accent that had slipped out when she was yelling more than her face as it was usually behind a white and gold helmet.  
Her rude sarcastic replies to him when he questioned her about the Type: Null project stuck most prominently in his mind along with some of the clever insults she would throw at the other employees that even Gladion found amusing even if he didn’t like her.  
What the hell were these two doing here? Especially together?  
He didn’t know most of the employees too well, but he knew Daymond and Francesca argued almost constantly and he had never seen Rose and Franchesca so much as glance at each other, let alone have hang out sessions.  
“Seriously! Get the hell off me! Rose! A little help here if you would! get this ugly big bea- OW!” Franchesca cried out as Nigel pulled out a large chunk of her hair and roughly scratched at her already marked face with his little webbed feet.  
“Nigel, please calm down! I understand you’re upset with her, but this isn’t going to make you feel better! We… we really need to talk to them and we can’t do that with your squawking! I’ll talk to her about being rude later and get you some bird treats covered cookies okay? Just stop attacking her.” Rose pleaded.  
“Pellll,” the bird huffed angrily, but stopped his attack, glaring at Francesca for a new more seconds before flying over the hospital bed where a frail-looking dark-haired man who was currently laying asleep, landing on the bed and curling up next to his side with his large beak on his trainer's chest.  
That must be Daymond, the blond boy realized with a cringe, geez his mother really did a number on the poor guy, he looked offal.  
Franchesca glared right back at the bird and rubbed her head with a wince of pain as Rose turned back to Wicke with a small smile, “Oh, Ms. Wicke you don’t know how good it is to see you! I’ve been so worried… Malachite told us you had him. Please is he okay? Fa..umm the Fabeast?”  
Gladion blinked at her in surprise, not at the new knowledge that everyone in the damn foundations knew they had Emerald, but the genuine worry in her voice for the beast.  
“Umm, yes Rose he’s just fine,” Wicke answered hesitantly.  
“No thanks to you and the Foundations! Why do you even care!?” Gladion snapped.  
“Ya! Emerald was hurt at Aether! It’s-”  
“Oh thank Arcrus!” Rose sighted cupping her hands together as Franchesca let out a sigh of relief and sagged in on herself like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, “I… we were all so worried about him! Okey! Umm..T-this might sound really weird, but we really need your help, please do you think you could bring-“  
“Rose, no!” we can’t just demand something like that without any exclamation! They would never agree!” She growled, then sighed and looked away with both her arms crossed, “Damn it...I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think we might need to make arrangements to tell them If we want them to do what we need to do to make the plan work out.” Franchesca said softly to the girl.  
“Franchesca we can’t! It’s not part of the main plan! We all had a vote! We can’t just change the plan like that, especially without the others!” the other woman argued.  
“I’m all for planning Rose, but they basically fell into our damn lap! We have to at least set something up to speak to them!! This is an opportunity we won’t get again! You know the plan would have been different if we knew where they were and besides you were literally about to ask them shit! and that wasn't a part of the plan was it?!”  
“W-what plan? ”Lillie asked them but was ignored as Rose stubbornly crossed her arms, “Franchesca! We can’t, and asking them was in the plan! it was just one of the alternative parts! Doing this is only going to make everything more complicated! You can’t just change up the plans that drastically without asking the group!”  
The red-head grounded and rubbed her temple, “I’m the damn leader Rose, I can change plans whenever the hell I want when I think its best, and plus the others aren’t here right now! You want me to dash all the way there and vote with the others, come back, then ask them If they want to know the truth, go back to the Foundations a third fucking time without drawing suspicion to get the USB and come back again!? That’s a wonderful Idea It would only take a little more than two hours at the most, maybe more depending on if the others can wiggle out of work. I just know Wicke and the others will definitely stay here for that long!” Franchesca huffed, "This isn’t some dumb ass work project to earn suck up points! If we’re going to do this, fix things we need their damn help!”  
Rose fronded and looked away with a hurt expression, “Fine! You don’t have to be so rude! But...I guess the plan could run smoother with their cooperation, but the others aren’t going to be happy..”  
Franchesca’s eyes softened, “I know they’re not, I’m sorry for snapping… but trust me, this is the best course of action, especially with you here, Wicke is more likely to tru-”  
“HEY!” Gladion interrupted their squabble, “I don’t know what either of you are talking about, but we aren’t helping you with anything!” He snarled, unable to make much sense of their words.  
“Ya! Gladion's right and If you’re going to say we need to give Emerald back to the foundations because he’s dangerous, you’re lying! He’s not dangerous at all, so you can just stop saying it!” Lillie snapped, “In fact! I think you both know that! You seem to like him more than the others, so you have to know he’s not as mean as Aether make him out to be and know what the foundations are doing to him is wrong! You had to at least had an idea that he couldn't have been the one to hurt Mr. Daymond even if others in the foundations told you it was Emerald because Emerald has five claws not three!”  
Rose stared at them, baffled as Franchesca rubbed her thumb over a strange scar on her hand which almost exactly like all the self-inflicted ones Emerald had on his own scaly body, “So… you’ve already figured that much out then and even renamed him apparently. See Rose… we kind of have to tell them now or they’ll probably put all this shit together themselves then we'll never get them on our bloody side.”  
Rose just sighed, “I suppose. The original plan was a little risky now that I’m thinking about it. There would have been a lot more fighting. This could make things a lot easier If we do it carefully.”  
“Rose! Please just tell us what on earth the two of you are going on about! Is this all about the ultra beast?” Wicke asked.  
Rose opened her mouth to speak, but Franchesca quickly put one of her hands over her mouth, “No, not here! We don’t have the USBs with us yet, they would never believe us without it and definitely try and send us to a mental institution. We need to go back to the Foundation, get it from Keven, convince Archer to let us go out again as soon as possible and give it to them in a secluded place. We can probably even give one of the others the gist of what's happened so all of them don't bite my head off later on.”  
“Like hell, we’re going to a secluded place with you!” Gladion snapped, not trusting this at all.  
“You want any real answers? Well unless you want to sit in the dark and just hope for them to fall from the sky instead, which they won’t, you will come! I’ll give you something… something that will give you all the answers you want, you have my word. All of you… especially you Wicke deserve to know the truth no matter how fucked up it is.” Franchesca said softly, for a moment it almost looked like she was writing something down in her pocket when she stuck her hand in.  
“Umm Ms. Franchesca.” Lillie started after a moment and shuffled her feet, “You seem like you know a few things, so do you know who really hurt Mr. Daymond? Was it my mother?”  
Franchesca didn’t say a word but nodded firmly at them.  
“I thought so...” Wicke sighed and glanced sadly at the man in the hospital bed.  
Lillie’s eyes widened and she slowly looked to the floor, “T..their almost gone now, but the last time I saw you had really bad scratch marks. Did mother give you those as well?” She asked in a low whisper.  
“You don’t need to worry about my sorry ass… it’s nothing.” The red-head grunted still writing something in her pocket.  
Lillie sniffed softly making Francesca wince as the blond girl's bottom lip trembled.  
Gladion put an arm around her shoulder, pushing his own emotions about his mother aside and gave the two employees a funny look.  
If they really were out to capture Emerald why would they tell them such crucial information?  
He was still suspicious of them of course, but the offer of any kind of explanation, even if they were coming from a person like Franchesca was extremely tempting.  
“We’ll think about it, Rose… but tell me, I at least need this question answered now, you talked often with Faba and the last time we ran into Malachite he said some… worrying things regarding him. Do you know where he is, by any chance?” Wicke asked her quickly, her expression extremely serious now.  
Gladion still wasn't all too worried about the man's absence or so he told himself, but even his stomach sank at their expressions.  
“Mr. Faba’s okay right?” Lillie whispered.  
Franchesca looked away with a small sigh and Rose flinched, “Mr. Faba… don’t worry about him right now Ms. Wicke! I promise you he’s very safe where he is at the moment! T..that’s all I can tell you right now.. I’m sorry.” The pale woman said shakily.  
Wicke and Lillie sighed in relief, but Gladion didn’t share it.  
The look those two girls had on their faces screamed something else to him entirely, but why not tell Wicke?  
To spare her from something awful?  
“He’s safe? That’s all I needed to hear for now… Safe he’s safe… He’s okay.” Wicke said  
Gladion frowned and shook his head, “Right…” he grumbled, their vagueness was really starting to piss him off.  
They came here to question Daymond not to hear these two babble on about something he didn’t entirely trust.  
“Anyway, could you two just get out now If you're just going to dodge questions. Like Wicke said we’ll think about your offer, but we need to ask Daymond some questions,” he told them.  
Before they even considered going somewhere with them, he wanted to ask Daymond some things.  
“Yes, could you wait in the lobby perhaps? We can give you our decision then.” Wicke added.  
The two were silent staring at them blankly.  
“Talk to him? Do… you not know?” Rose asked sadly.  
“Know what? Is he too hurt to talk to us?” Lillie asked, horror creeping in her voice.  
“He’s in a coma.” Franchesca told them, gazing at the bed redden man with a mix of emotions, “I don’t know the specifics, but he’s not going to be able to tell anyone anything for a while.”  
“A-a coma?!” Lillie squeaked as Gladion and Wicke exchanged looks.  
This definitely wasn’t the thing they wanted to hear today!  
Now their only hope of getting answers was out of these employees they both hardly knew and hardly trusted.  
“Oh no… poor Daymond, this is horrible!” Wicke breathed.  
Franchesca sighed and held out her scared hand to Wicke, “You’re right, it is really fucking horrible. Everything is right now even more than usual, but we’re going to make things right! You don’t have to trust me, I don’t blame you if you don’t, just meet us and we’ll explain everything to you I swear.” She said her eyes nonchalantly flickering to her hand.  
Wicke looked slightly suspicious but shook her hand then Gladion could see her shove something in her pocket.  
“Well, If there's nothing else you three want to ask us, you should probably get going, we definitely shouldn’t leave together, I don’t want to get old Malie all suspicious if he figures out we’re gone. He’s already on my ass enough as it is. Unless any of you want to say anything to sleeping beauty over there…”  
Lillie was the first to approach basically running up to his bedside, “I’m sorry for what mother did to you, Mr. Daymond! I would like to thank you for what you did for Emerald! We’re going to continue your work and protect him I promise!” Lillie said with multiple deep bows, not minding as Nigel raised his head and squawked warningly at her.  
Wicke too dipped her head and gently pulled Lillie away before the girl got hysterical or Nigel attacked her for getting too close to his trainer, “I hope you wake up soon Mr. Daymond. You were always a good employee.”  
“I wish for the same,” Gladion said, truly meaning his words as Daymond had always been a kind man, even if he was a bit cowardly.  
“We’ll come,” he growled meting Francesca’s hazel eyes, “but I’m warning you If this is a trap me and Wicke are bringing our whole team and we’ll crush you.”  
Franchesca smirked, “Understood as if I would ever let Glaze out to battle your Pokemon, I love her, but her defense is shit even if she is a quick little thief.”  
“We won’t. You would outnumber us big time, we only have three Pokémon together.” Rose said softly.  
“Good. I would hate to hurt Edelgard and Dimitri. They’re good Pokémon.” Wicke murmured, “well we better get going now as you said, goodbye, for now, you two.”  
“But.. wait where do we-”  
“It was nice speaking to you Rose, you too Franchesca!” Wicke cut Lillie off as her and Gladion dragged her out of the room. “Hold on! Where were we supposed to meet? They never told us!” Lillie said in a harsh whisper to Wicke.  
“Don’t worry Lillie, Franchcasa handed me a piece of paper when we shook, I suppose she just didn't want to say it out loud. I’m sure It tells us where to go,” Wicke whispered back to her.  
The blond girl nodded, “she did? That’s good then! I really hope they give us some answers, I really want to know what is going on with Emerald!”  
“That goes for all of us,” Gladion sighed as they all left the hospital leaving Franchesca and Rose behind.  
~  
“You really caused a mess for us, you know that right Daymond? You ruined all our plans! If you would have just stayed slinking in the shadows and getting drunk off your guilty ass everything would have run a lot damn smother.”  
Franchesca unsurprisingly revived no reply from the man nor from Nigel as the water-type had fallen at long last asleep by his side, so she was free to shit talk him with no fear of being attacked again.  
“What? You’re not going to make any excuses like you always do? Defend your shitty actions? This doesn't make what you did okay and I think you know that? Tell me, come on tell me your innocent when it comes to the Ultra Beast Project like you always do, shoot back something sarcastic at me.”  
Still no reply.  
Franchesca ground her teeth and continued to stare at his gaunt face, guilt, and sadness churning in her gut, but she felt no hatred towards, not anymore.  
This was the fifth time she had been here and she still felt the same.  
She didn’t understand, she used to be so enraged at Daymond’s actions back when Faba had been changed into that thing.  
She had thought Daymond was a good person!  
A part of her had even admired and respected him in a way for all his work with abused Pokémon.  
He made them trust him so fast, even the biggest most violent Pokémon would become the biggest cuddle Caterpies when it came to Daymond.  
She had been positive he would be as disgusted and horrified as her.  
That he would be as pissed as her even if he was Malachite’s best friend, but no he blamed everyone else he blamed Faba and wandered the halls smelling like disgusting alcohol that made her twitchy around him.  
Back then she had gone out of her way to be horrible to him, to make him wince and bashed him for being a selfish coward to give him back the pain the alcohol was taking away.  
Maybe a part of her anger was the feelings she felt for him prior.  
Feelings a small part of her still felt and the realization of those emotions pissed her off even more.  
It was only until Samantha had run into the labs her group always worked in panicked and on the verge of tears and told them what Daymond had done for Faba, a person who was so vocal about deserving what the crazy bitch had done to him that made her emotions do a 180 flip.  
Franchesca had been beyond pissed and weirdly enough sad.  
punching the shit out of her wall after the group had finished their stressful talk on what the hell they were supposed to do now.  
“Idiot! You stupid fucking bloody idiot!” she remembered screaming, not caring how much blood trickled down her knuckles, how the pain or were those tears? Made her vision blurry.  
She punched and punched and punched until Glaze popped out of her Pokémon and froze her fists in ice blocks before she could break any of her fingers, for once not smerking or snicking and instead gently nuzzling her arm until she got a hold of herself, then, of course, blasting her in the face with ice and scratching her for being a overdramatic dumb ass.  
It made her angrier and hurt than it should have at first that Daymond didn't trust her.  
That he didn’t think Franchesca wouldn’t have thought any of this was fucked up, didn’t bother talking to her, tell her how he had felt and done things all on his own.  
Nearly got himself killed in the process and used for Sharpedo food.  
That he really thought she was that fucked up.  
Even if they weren’t exactly friends, even if she teased him all the time and they bantered constantly, deep down she was hurt he thought that way about her, but then again she didn’t trust him either and that nearly cost him his life.  
A large part of the escape and Daymond’s hospitalization was on her in that regard, not just him.  
Daymond was just finally trying to do the right thing and to make matters worse for her guilt she only found out later on the very first time she visited the man on Archers command with a gift of a Kyogre mug given for reasons Franchesca didn’t understand the Assistant Branch Chief was so odd Francesca didn’t even bother to question it, that another reason why he didn’t want to help Faba was that he had an aunt, a very sick, half-blind aunt who seemed to have trouble remembering things.  
Seeing her made all her anger drown out almost instantly, the guilt digging their hooks even deeper to her in exchange.  
She had only heard her mentioned by Malachite not long after Daymond has been hurt, talking on the phone to someone about paying for all her medical bills himself to a nurse she apparently had and not to long after saw the woman for herself.  
She had been too guilty to try and speak to her when she entered Daymond’s hospital room with a shiny Sylveon and younger woman who was most definitely her nurse by her side instead, she quickly walked about the door as the older woman sobbed hysterically about, ‘her poor little Daymond.’ And ‘why he wouldn’t wake up.’  
She didn't even seem to completely understand when her nurse tried to tell the serious state her nephew was in and the way she was talking to her.. it sounded like they had already told her the exact same thing before.  
What made Franchesca the most upset though was just how upset the old women got when she was told that she wasn’t allowed to hug him.  
Daymond’s family or what he had left of one made Franchesca start thinking of her own folks at their house, her mum and stepdad, her innocent little siblings.  
Even the older ones who usually ignored her and gave her guilty sometimes even scared looks.  
Francesca hadn’t even really thought about them when she formed the group.  
Not because she didn't care because she did a lot she had just never thought Lusmine would go as far as to try and harm their families.  
If Malachite or Lusamine found out what she and the others were doing would their families suffer with them or was Daymond just worrying over nothing?  
Arceus she hoped not, her poor mum didn’t deserve any more shit after that happened in Galar and as for Daymond’s aunt... well she just hopped Malachite stopped Lusamine from doing anything to the woman.  
The ocean eyed man was probably the third scummiest person she had the displeasure to get to know, but it was obvious that he still cared about Daymond and his aunt.  
All the gifts he left him proved that and the more unhinged and angry way he acted in the Foundations.  
He quite literally didn’t talk to anybody anymore, except when he was forced to.  
Neither did she really, with the exception of her group, just like Malachite she knew others were scared of her not only for what she did to Faba but what she had done to others in the past.  
“Heh, you know Daymond I think we’re both a mess how about you? You really were right… when you yelled at me. I am a fucking hypocrite. I may have been helping him, but I still was one of the main sickos that turned our fucking boss into a monster in the first place just because he’s a pile of dicks… Well, I said it. You were right! Are you going to mock me? I know you want to… you’re actually right for once. You’re right I am a horrible person! I… I guess I kinda always been.”  
No reply.  
Your fault, this is all your fault.  
A voice that she was more than used to whispered in her head.  
This is all your fucking fault Franchesca, you stupid, worthless bitch.  
It’s always your fucking fault.  
This happened to him because of you, his aunt is probably going to lose her nephew, the person that might be the only family she has left.  
“S..she can’t be the only person, Daymond has to be a mommy’s boy!” She mumbled aloud.  
you didn’t see any gifts from anybody else from his family, did you? The voice asked.  
No other aunts or uncles or grandparents or even anything from a mom or a dad!  
She’ll be broken!  
Because of you, Nigel is going to sit in this hospital room until Daymond dies or they pull off his life support.  
Then who knows what will happen to him, you know he would never obey another trainer.  
He’ll be broken too!  
You’re really good at breaking things, aren’t you? You broke your family, you broke Faba and now you’ve gone and broken Daymond and his family.  
You should have tested him more to make sure he was really on Malachites side, don’t fucking blame him for being scared like you were.  
You were even considering putting Faba to sleep at first, weren’t you?  
And you say he’s the coward?  
You were going to murder him just like you almost killed you know who.  
You're so sick and fucking pathetic.  
Your so violent and horrible, and you wonder why daddy dearest always used to beat the shit out of you.  
You really did deserve it in a sense.  
Monsters like you don’t deserve mercy and happiness.  
All you deserve is pain for everything you've done.  
The red-head looked down and clenched her hand’s fists staring at the scar Faba gave her intently.  
She smiled bitterly at it, letting her mind flow to a different subject as opposed to thinking about her father.  
Probably a bad idea, thinking about him only made her more somber.  
She liked to think of the mark as a reminder of sorts.  
To keep the promise she made to Faba after she couldn’t bring herself to kill him.  
Like hell she was even breaking it no matter how many scratches and bites he gave her when she first started to get him to trust her or the awful fits he would have where he would hyperventilate and hide in the corner to try and get away from yet another abuser who did this to him.  
Daymond would have helped a lot when it came to calming Faba down in his fits now that she was thinking about it.  
She was by far the best out of the others, but It still took forever when they happened.  
She was never an expert when it can to calming people down and comforting them, but she tried her best and mimicked some of the things she saw Daymond do and say to the hurt Pokémon he worked on and even what she saw him say to Archer after one of his rare freakouts where he would scream and rip his hair out and it worked out okay, even if she did have quite a few scratches and bites not that she blamed Faba for them of course.  
She deserved them anyway.  
She traced the scar with her thumb letting the flashback play in her head of her trying to give him the painkiller shots with Reganold for the first time.  
Letting the emotional pain she deserved wash over her at thinking about it.  
She remembered how the poor experiment freaked upon seeing the needle, only starting to calm down when she stuck the needle in her own arm to show it wouldn’t do anything like the last needle had to him.  
It was odd, she had almost grown attached to him in a way even if the uncanny feeling about him made her uneasy around him almost constantly and caused her to shiver up a storm when she was more than used to even the coldest of temperatures  
She would even let him stay in her rooms from time to time whenever she found him wandering the halls in a lost daze and returned him to the president's rooms in the early mornings, unable just to leave him alone like that and continued to do it even after he tore everything to pieces in her room when she first let him sleep in her quarters.  
Even after Faba continued to annoying curl up on her bed every time he spent the night thereby forcing her to sleep on the couch when he refused to get out of her bed because like hell she was sleeping next to him.  
Even like this, he was still annoying as hell just in different ways, eating all her food, shedding his gross fur over everything she owned even on the inside her lab coat when she still had it probably because he always tried to wear it, acting like he owned the place and wouldn’t let her change the channel from some boring ass show that showed you how things were made.  
Franchesca smiled bitterly, she was honestly surprised she had gotten as attached as she did, she had only decided to help Faba at first because she knew what they did was horrible and wrong, but now after spending as much time with the beast as she had it was for so much more.  
She guessed it was why her hatred of Malachite only got worse and worse why her anger at Daymond got worse.  
It was a lot more emotional for her as which was extremely annoying.  
She rarely cried, but ever since the shit with Faba happened she had teared up more than she would like to admit, the first time she was forced to shock Faba with Malachite when the normal excuses of her being on her period didn’t work, when she had been about to put him out of his misery for good with a needle, picking him up for the first time and walking to her room because he was in too much pain to stand and especially on the days when he acted partially like a Pokemon and on one occasion even tried to lick the wound he gave her and rub up against her leg and actually want her to pet him.  
The times he begged for food and screamed from all the pain were all images that would stick with her forever and made her tear up again just forcing herself thinking about it.  
All this… it was so wrong.  
She shouldn’t be getting so needlessly emotional for no reason and Faba shouldn’t be acting like that, he shouldn’t have gotten friendly with her.  
He really shouldn't have, it wasn’t right.  
He should be screaming at her to do more.  
He should be scolding her on how to do her job properly and to get back to work.  
He should be snarling insults at her and blaming everything that happened on her, not trying to snuggle with her on her couch with Glaze because he didn’t know any better.  
He used to hate her!  
It was all just so wrong..  
She shook her head, desperate to dig himself out of the hole of negative thoughts she had made once again before they started to drown her again.  
They would all make things right though!  
Her, Samantha, Rose, Keven, Markus and Reginald.  
Despite the odds that stood against them they were never going to stop trying!  
All of them together were already made good progress, they just needed Faba, they just needed Wicke and the others to trust them then she and the others would try and fix things.  
She just hoped Wicke didn’t break her neck like Rose almost did when they let her watch and read what was on the USB a few days ago or get too sick anywhere too clean.  
Things hopeful were going to work out, the plan would work and go smoothly that or they were all doomed and Lusmine and Malachite would have their heads on an overly fancy silver platter.  
“You better wake up you idiot or I’ll never forgive you, you hear? You have to wake up so I can yell at you. So... I can apologize… You're just lucky Wicke and the others found Faba’s sorry tail or you would have really gotten a talking to! Losing Aether property is…punishable you know! Even if Malachite would have protected your ass!”  
No response.  
Franchecas chuckled bitterly and looked away, “Heh heh typical…” the redhead sighed. A sad looked deep in her eyes was now more apparent than ever, “Just, please... wake up soon… we all miss you, you lovable idiot…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Franchesca: "Really Daymond.. I don't understand why you didn't come to me in your time of need, we didn't fight that much.."  
> ~not even four months ago~  
> Daymond: *walks in lab neer Franchesca.*  
> Franchesca: "BAKA! YOU UGLY FUCKING BITCH!"  
> Daymond: "B..But I didn't even say anythi-"  
> Franchesca: "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU WORTHLESS BITCH, NOW GO AWAY."  
> Daymond: "Ugh, your such an ass whole sometimes.."


	25. A Path To Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the group chats together and Wicke and Gladion go to talk with Rose and Franchesca.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos every one!  
> Hellos to you and to you!  
> I have another chapter that I wrote as fast as possible in apogee for the last one being so late mostly and because the next one might be late as I'm going out of state.  
> Nothing too exciting happens in this or the next chapter except more dancing around the major parts of the plot and possible a little segment of what's going on in the foundations.  
> Don't worry too much though as the calm is going to end after that and everything is going to turn in to craziness!  
> I'm so excited for everything that is to come!!!  
> I really hope it tugs at your heartstrings!!  
> MWAHAHAHAHA! ha..  
> Anyways! yall are probably used to hear this by now, but I hope you enjoy this chapter and I apologize for any spelling errors or improper grammar you might see!

Getting back to Hau’s house was thankfully easy for them once again even if it was later in the day.  
The closest thing to catch any glimpses of them came in the form of some far away yells from who sounded like they came from Malachite.  
Gladion’s Zoroark had truly done a great job leading the Aether employees elsewhere for the time being.  
“Hau we-” Gladion started as soon as they were all safely inside, wasting no time to get straight to the point when the tan boy ran up to the blond and shushed him, gesturing to the couch with a wide smile.  
“Come look quick! They’re both so cute together!” the boy whispered, his voice straining to avoid yelling in his excitement.  
“Oh, but Hau there is something-” Wicke started.  
“Shhh! Or you’ll wake them!” The Alolan native scolded her, beckoning them over to the living room where Emerald and Hau’s Raichu, Pancake were curled up tightly together with their faces leaned against each other.  
Emerald’s tail was curled around Pancake’s small form and the Raichu’s stubby paws were rested on the beast’s scaly front legs, the electric types long zig-zag tail placed on Emerald's back.  
Both of them were fast asleep with the Hypno plush Emerald usually had being squished between them, Emerald wasn’t even twitching in his sleep from any possible nightmares and only snored loudly.   
“Awww, that is adorable.” Lillie couldn’t help but say softly.  
“Hm, so he does snore then,” Wicke added with a small smile.  
“All I did was let Pancake out and Emerald went right up to him! Isn’t that great!? I just knew they would be friends! I mean after all Emerald isn’t a violent creature at all. He’s so sweet! Even if he does still growl and sneer at me..”  
“Ya Hau, That’s really great.” Gladion told him dismissively, “but on a lot more pressing matters than these two creatures sleeping when we went to the hospital..Daymond was in a coma.  
“Wh-what!?” Hau exclaimed, making the ultra beast shift in his sleep.  
“But In better news, a few employees that were also there visiting him told us they would give us answers if we met up with them at…” Wickie paused to pull the folded up piece of paper from her pocket that Franchesca must have handed to her and unfolded it, “Kalka’e bay at 5:30 PM.”  
“Oh! That’s the little ledge by the water in the cave Emerald was in!” Lillie exclaimed, then with a glance at the ultra beast urged them away from the beast to sit on another pair of the couches.  
Gladion’s face scrunched up, “That’s hours away! It wouldn’t take that long to grab something small and come back, they might just be going back to the Foundation! Who knows how many reinforcements they’ll get to ambush us!”  
“That may be true, but I think It’s worth the risk Gladion, we need any information we can get our hands on and quickly at that. The faster we figure out what’s going on the faster we can fix all this. With their help on the inside, we may even be able to expose Lusamine and the rest the Aether. It would stop the blackmail from happening,” Wicke argued and shoved the now crumpled paper back into her pocket.  
“They didn’t seem like they were lying either. They seemed genuine! They acted like they were worried about Emerald and really upset about what happened to Mr. Daymond!” Lillie added.  
“They could have easily faked that to gain our trust! I know it’s our only hope, but if Malachite was willing to go as far as to blackmail us… Threaten to blackmail Professor Burnet and Kukui… who knows what he would do on Mother orders if he ended up coming with Rose and Franchesca then corned us in a place where no one would hear us yell if we tried calling for help. For all, I know we could ‘conveniently disappear’ and never be heard from again.”  
Hau swallowed nervously, “I’m sure you can beat them if it does come to that! You’re super strong Gladion! You beat them all last time! I know you can again if you need to!”  
The blond boy still looked unconvinced, “I might be stronger than most of the employees, but this time you’re not coming to help me out and neither is Moon obviously and I doubt me and Wicke could defeat all of them by ourselves... No offense,” he said turning to the purple-haired women.  
“None taken, but I don’t think meeting with them will lead to any battles. I know Rose personally and I highly doubt she would lead us into any traps like that even if Ms. Franchesca is with her. Unlike a lot of employees, her intentions are pure. Even if she was being blackmailed or threatened to lure us somewhere because Lusamine knows I trust her, Rose would refuse to cooperate. She’s not one to betray the people she cares about.”  
Gladion just frowned, he still wasn’t sure on all this.   
He didn’t even know Rose after all and didn’t trust Franchesca for jack squat.  
“Well, I think we should go! What do you think Hau?” Lillie asked the other boy.  
“Errr.. well…” Hau stammered, not prepared for the question as he shifted where he sat, “I guess Gladion’s right. It might be a trap, but how else are we going to figure things out? We hardly have a choice here. Do you have any other plans for how else we can get it?”  
Gladion grumbled in annoyance and put his hand in front of his face, “Ugh! I don’t know! I would say we could try going to the research labs, but Malachite and mother aren’t stupid, they would know we would try going there and it’s not like we can break in the foundation without any backup and steal the dam… I mean darn information. I don’t trust this, but we need answers...I hate to say it but I guess Franchesca was right about this being our only choice.” the boy spat out like he hated every word that came out of his mouth, “Just... Lillie I don’t want you coming with us. Like hell, I’m risking your safety If this turns out to be a trap. I’d rather you stay here where you’ll be safe.”  
Lillie narrowed her eyes at him about to protest but glanced down at her bag where her single pokéball was located and slumped over with a sigh when she saw the intense look in her brother's eyes that she knew would refuse to budge, “I.. okay Gladion. I understand I’m not a good trainer yet. You and Ms. Wicke are so much better compared to me. I would just get in the way.”  
Gladion’s expression softened at her voice, looking a tad guilty now, “Look, Lillie, I’m sorry I just don’t want to see you hurt again. Hopefully, Wickes and I can handle them.”  
“We’ll be sure to tell you everything If they do turn out to be truthful of course,” Wicke said softly and pat the blond girl on the shoulder.  
Lillie only nodded, still visibly disappointed.  
“Hey don’t worry Lillie! I can keep you company! We can watch movies! I’ve really been wanting to show you this one with this Pyrour, It's really sad but really good! Maybe you can even help me gain Emerald’s trust so that he’ll let me pet him! I really want to be friends with him like you are!”  
A faint smile crossed Lillie’s face, “That sounds nice Hau, we can catch up like you wanted to. And I’m sure If you just give Emerald a few cookies and treats he’ll end up adoring you!”  
“You really think so!?” The boy chirped, bouncing up and down a few times.  
“I’m sure he will! Emerald definitely has a sweet tooth.” Lillie replied with a small chuckle.  
Gladion rolled his eyes at the two and turned to Wicke, “Well since we’re going through with this do you want to go ahead and write your will? Don’t worry about me I already wrote mine out a long time ago.”  
Wicke didn’t look amused in the slightest, giving Gladion her usual disapproving look with both her arms crossed.  
Well, he supposed now it was time to play another annoying waiting game.  
As if he hadn’t played enough of the stupid things in his lifetime.  
“Hey, Hau? If you got that movie you wanted to show Lillie laying around, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to watch it now. To kill time or whatever we’re going to be cooped up in here for a while.”  
“R-really!? I didn’t ask you because I just thought you would say no! Oh, this is going to be so much fun!!”  
The boys yelling somehow only then caused Emerald to wake up with a start, the Raichu still snoring away though as he snuggled closer to the ultra beast.  
The creature blinked the sleepiness out of his eyes casting an annoyed glance to Hau, expression quickly changing when he spotted Lillie and Wicke.  
He shook his head as if not sure if he wasn’t still in a dream before his blue eyes lit up, the large grin Gladion had seen more and more often quickly spreading across his maw.  
“Aww! Hello Emerald did you miss us? Sorry, we were gone when you woke up we-”   
Emerald swung his back legs off the couch, falling on the floor hard on his chin as his back legs gave out, before quickly getting up and leaping at them crashing right into Wicke and Lilly’s legs.  
“Kkkkkkkkkieeeee!” the creature clicked happily, rubbing his head against them both as he jumped up in the air at an impressive height, doing little figure eights around them.  
Too happy to even be embarrassed at his little fall.  
“Rai Rai?” Pancake squeaked at the creature and floated over to them.  
Gladion rolled his eyes at the ultra beast as his sibling and Wicke began to pet the creature.  
For such an ugly, cocky ultra beast he really did have the habit to act like a Rockruff puppy most the time, but he supposed sometimes it was just a tiny bit cute.  
The blond boy moved his hand about to nonchalantly pat the beasts head, but scale covered creature recoiled with a “Hmph!” and quickly moved his head away.  
Gladion quickly pulled his hand back and glared at the beast, that’s the last time he tried to pet the whiny, spoiled thing.  
Not like he wanted to pet him that bad any away, the first time was more than enough.  
Even if his fur was really soft...  
“What is my hand going to taint your pretty fur or something? Ugh, I swear sometimes you’re more arrogant than Faba.” He told it with a huff almost immediately regretting his words as Wicke made a face at the old Branch Chief’s name.  
Emerald stared at him for an uncountable amount of time at the name, only looking away when Hau reached a hand down to pet him making the creature turn away again with yet another scoff.  
Faba… saying the man’s name out loud made him think back once again to the faces Franchesca and Rose made when Wicke asked about him.   
The emotions that hid in their eyes seemed to tell Gladion that Faba being safe was out of the question.  
Not that he cared all too much or anything, he was a lot more worried about getting answers and to avoid Wicke or anyone else for that matter getting blackmailed by Malachite.   
He had never been one to be optimistic at all, but he hoped the women kept their words or he and Wicke were screwed to hell.  
~  
Eventually, after several movies, Wicke and Gladion started their walk.  
With Emerald only allowing Wicke to leave once again after Lillie offered to read him the continuation of some wizard books she had apparently been reading to him that Hau coincidently owned.  
“Remember Hau, If we’re not back in four hours exactly you have our permission to tell Professor Burnet and Kukui everything especially the parts about Daymond,” Gladion told him firmly, still hating the fact that the two might have to get mixed up in all this, but if something ended up happening to them it really was necessary just like Lillie said.  
“Right! Don’t worry Gladion you can count on us! Just be sure to be careful and please stay safe!”  
“Good,” Gladion grunted visibly attempting to not roll his eyes even if he appreciated the concern, closing the door he jogged to catch up with Wicke who was already down the second flight of stairs.  
“You see anyone?”  
“Not even a Rattata,” the woman replied softly.  
“I’m definitely getting Pandora all the good pokébeans once all this shit is over,” Gladion grunted to her, instantly shutting his mouth shut, expected to be scolded for his cuss, but Wicke just stared determinedly forward, toward their destination.  
He watched her for a moment, the poor woman looked so worried.  
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who it was for.  
“You’re mostly doing all this for Faba aren’t you?” he asked calmly.  
“Yes,” Wicke asked after a moment, “Please don’t get me wrong, I'm very concerned for Emerald, but I have to know where he is, even if he’s safe like Rose said, or at least just hear his voice. It’s been so long since I last heard from him … anyone can get worried after that amount of time. I can hardly focus on anything anymore.”  
Gladion frowned, “I know you trust Rose and all, but are you sure she was telling you the truth? She looked like she was about to throw up when you asked her about him,” the blond boy questioned.  
The green-eyed women turned to him, blinking in surprise, “I may not trust Rose with literally everything she told us so far, especially since she was with Franchesca, but I trust her with this. I know her and Faba talked more often than any other employee he's had, mostly about psychic types I think.”  
Gladion only snorted offering no reply back, not even a smug comment about psychic types being weak.  
He was probably looking too much into this, It was just a look, after all, it could have meant anything at that moment, right?  
For some reason, Gladion couldn’t shake it that something was wrong, very wrong.  
Something squirmed in his gut again making Gladion cringe.  
Why did he feel like this?  
Why couldn’t he shake this?  
After all, he did to the Pokémon in the labs, after what he didn’t do for him and Lillie.  
Never helping them, but instead turning and walking away without a care.  
He didn’t do anything.   
Not in any of those dire moments when he and his sister needed him most.  
For a second, Silvally's cries of agony rang in his ears a white lab-coated form walking away tensely as their mother screamed twisted insults at them.  
“I… hate to say It, but I’m not surprised that mother was the one to hurt Daymond,” Gladion said eager to change the subject from the blond man.  
“I can’t say I'm surprised either.” Wicke said softly, “Lillie, she was awfully surprised though, poor girl.”  
Gladion let out an aggravated sigh, “sometimes I don’t understand why Lillie has some much faith in her! After everything, she’s done. She had the opportunity to change, to get better! But she didn’t even try, she just went back to hurting people and Pokémon again! AGAIN! And after what she did to Emerald and Daymond,” ‘what she might have done to Faba’ a voice whispered, “I think I’ve finally lost almost all hope in her getting even remotely better.“  
“I don’t blame you, but even with your sister’s surprise, I do think she’s beginning to think the same way, or at least eventually will.”  
Gladion almost nervously grabbed his wrist, “I hope so, what she did to Daymond just can’t be ignored like everything else! She almost killed him, I-I never thought she would try and kill someone like that. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but mothers extremely dangerous and unstable, so when this is all over I-I want to… It would probably be best to.”  
“Try placing her in a psychiatric hospital?” Wicke finished hesitantly.   
“Ya.” Gladion said slowly, his grip tightening significantly on his wrist, “I don’t want to, I’m not even sure If I can, but she’s way beyond my or Lillie’s help by this point, she needs professional help more than anything. That and I definitely don’t think she should be running the foundation either, given how bad her mental state it and all. We’ve already seen what she’s done to just one of her employees when they disobey her and you know she hurts the others too for almost no reason! If she continues as the present I think a lot of the other employees might end up in the same boat as Daymond, or.. even worse.”  
Sadness filled Wickes green eyes, “Oh Gladion, I’m so sorry all this is on you sweetheart. Is there anything I can do to help you out in any way?” she asked softly.  
Help? she really wanted to help him?  
He wasn’t used to help, even rejecting it when he needed it, but he needed Wicke for this.  
Gladion sluggishly met the woman's eyes, “Well, I guess you could help me out. Mother definitely isn’t just going to go to a place like that willingly, and there are probably not going to administer her on just my words alone. You can when you’re not busy with your job, that is .”  
Wicke smiled at the blond boy, “Of course Gladion, just call whenever you need me and I’ll do what I can.”  
Gladion just nodded stiffly at her, the thought of his mother locked up in a sense, made conflicted emotions clash in his mind.   
He didn’t really like his mother, especially after all the horrible things she did, but the image of her being locked away for being a psycho somewhat hit him where it hurt the most.  
He did still love her even after everything she did, as unhealthy as it might be, he still loved her and wanted to see her get better.  
“And Gladion?”  
Gladion just grunted, still lost in his thoughts.  
“Even If we aren’t blood, I want you to know that I’ve always thought as you and Lillie as my children. I know you’ve done things your not exactly proud of, but I really am proud of you. For being children you and Lillie have handled so much in your life like a responsible adult would. Never once throwing a fit about how unfair life is and all that nonsense. No, you stood in your two legs and you did what you could to solve this massive problem you seem to be facing every day.”  
Gladion didn’t know how to respond to that, his throat tightening up.  
Those words… He had always known they hung in the air but had never been told or acknowledged even when they were alone together after his mother had done something to hurt him or saying their goodbyes when he fled from the foundations.   
He thought the same way, really.  
Wicke had been more of a mother to him then Lusamine had even been, deep down he had always been scared she never felt the same, that he wasn’t enough for her, but she did.  
She thought of him as her son.   
A thought that made him slightly blush.  
Gladion opened his mouth. Should he thank her?  
Tell her that he cared about her?  
That all she did for him and Lillie deep down meant the world to him?  
He closed his mouth unable to say a single syllable that would have meant anything sentimental, swallowing thickly, “Uhhh, ya I’m really not. You should really have some kids own sometime you know, they would be a hell of a lot better than me.”  
Wicke gently shook her head not scolding him for his cuss, “I doubt that Gladion and besides for the record I can’t have children.”  
“W-what!? You can’t?” Gladion yelped with wide eyes.  
Wicke smiled softly, “No, but I’ve come to accept it. You and Lillie are all I could wish for anyways. No other children I could have ever had would have been as amazing as you two are to me.”  
Gladion once again didn’t know how to respond, still flushing faintly as the two continued the rest of the way in silence, walking all the way through the cave while constantly glancing behind them and to the opening where Rose and Franchesca were supposed to be waiting for them. Passing the entrance the two already put their hands on their pokeballs.  
Their eyes meet and the pair nodded at the other before they went in the opening.   
It was now or never for them now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Noone:
> 
> Absolutely not a fucking soul:
> 
> Malachite: "YO GUYS IM GOING TO FUCKING TORTURE FABA."


	26. Once Our Haven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Francesca and Rose gain some intel from an unexpected source and finally give Wicke and Gladion the dreaded USB.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos my loyal peoples! I'm back from my vacation at last and would like to wish you all a late Chrssmiss and New Year!  
> Before I get into every thing I would just really like to show this wonderful piece of art my friend drew me as a Chrismiss present!! It's so good and made me so happy receiving I just had to share it! You should totally check her out if you can spare the time, she's an amazing artist; https://www.instagram.com/0_cosmic_fables_0/  
> 
> 
> It's good as mother fucking shit right!!?? and she thought I wouldn't like it, what a sill gal.  
> Little does she know it's my lock screen now with my home screen being more art some nice peppes have made yours truly and it will be that way for a while!!  
> It's just so good how on earth could I change it?!  
> Alright getting more on the topic of my story now, nothing all too exciting happens in this chapter once again, but I had a lot of fun writing it because of how crazy one of the characters are and it's not Malachite for once!  
> You'll see that later when he completely loses it!!  
> Think of this chapter as the second calm before the storm since no theirs no more dillydallying after that and I just right the hell in, it's when they find out everything and yadda yadda yadda and it's going to be as long as my long ass Corgi.  
> Also before I tell ya'll to enjoy I want to give a big shot out and thanks to DeathOfGlitter! and strongly enforce you to check out her fic if you're a big lover of the old bean man!!  
> It's a very good and amazing written one of the best fanfiction I've ever had the pleasure of reading and believe me I've read A LOT so that's really saying something!  
> It doesn't have near enugh pepole reading it then it ought to!!  
> It's amazing really, I don't understand why more pepole aren't reading this work of art designed as a fanfiction!  
> Seriously go read it, I hate to be pushy, but I just want more pepole to experience just how fucking good their damn fic is!!  
> Anyways back on topic again, I hope you enjoy this chapter even if all the good shit happens in the next one and as usual, apologize in advance for any spelling errors or improper sentence structure you will probably see.

To say Francesca was having an extremely shitty day would be an understatement.  
To the stressful exchange with Wicke and the president’s children even if it gave them a new ray of hope, Malachite continuing to be nosey and really everything else going on.  
Today was awful, not as bad as a few of the chosen days not too long ago when the group hit a bump or back when she was a kid, but still awful nonetheless.  
It made her snort in amusement remembering one of her normal 'bad days' at the Foundation when she would spill coffee all over herself or was too tired to come up with a clever comeback to someone’s insults that she used to think were so horrible.  
Things oh so ‘luckily’ had quickly become even worse for her as soon as Rose and she entered back into Aether, heading deep to the labs in the basement where hopefully Keven would be typing away on his computer continuing to try and find more deleted documents.  
The two of them turned down the first set of halls from the entrance not expecting to run into anything of interest only to find Lusamine in the middle of the hallway beating or more accurately scratching the absolute shit out of Archer’s face.  
The few employees that were there watching nervously from the sidelines, were shaking and clinging on to one another, with the exception of one who looked more confused than frightened.  
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU STILL CANT FIND HIM!!? YOU SHOULD HAVE FOUND HIM!! YOU SHOULD HAVE FOUND MY BEAUTIFUL BEAST NOW YOU WORTHLESS FREAK! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SMARTER THAN THIS!” The crazy women snarled, pinning Archers much smaller body against the wall and dragging her nails down his face.  
“I-I am not a freak! There's nothing wrong with me! I’m perfectly n-normal!!” The blond squeaked in his high, scratchy voice, unusual spiky hair already speckled with red.  
Rose gasped at the scene, moving to help him before Franchesca grabbed her arm, “Don’t,” she warned, “she’s just going to turn on you if you try to help him and besides Archer doesn’t really deserve someone swooping in to save him.” she said, although felt a very small pang of pity for the twisted man or more empathy as she knew what it was like for the President to jab her talons in your damn face.  
Rose’s brown eyes darkened significantly probably remembering how twisted those documents he wrote were, and stayed by her side glaring intently at Archer as Lusmine continued to abuse him.  
“IT'S BEEN WEEKS NOW YOU WORTHLESS SCUM. I DON'T KNOW WHY I TRUST ANY OF YOU WITH THIS! ESPECIALLY YOU ASSISTANT BRANCH CHIEF ARCHER! YOU TRULY ARE SUCH A WORTHLESS RETARD! I NEED HIM BACK YOU IDIOT, WHAT PART OF THAT CAN YOU NOT COMPREHEND! I NEED HIM!!” she roared, scratching dangerously close to his electric blue eyes, the man’s face now a bloody mess with claw marks.  
“E-eepp! I’m not retarded Mrs. Lusmine!! I’m not! You know I’m very intelligent! Just give me more time p.. please!” Archer squeaked with a shake of his head as tears began to well in his eyes.  
“YOU AND THE OTHERS FAILURE IN GETTING MY BEAST BACK TO ME SAYS OTHERWISE! ALSO, I’VE GIVEN YOU PLENTY OF TIME! STOP ACTING LIKE I ONLY GAVE YOU A FEW MERE DAYS!” she screamed at him.  
“Let’s go, we need to find Keven and get the USB.” She hissed to Rose not wanting to just watch as this happened for any longer, a part of her hoping Roy would swoop in like he normally did when someone was being hurt and talk the crazy bitch into stopping or even take the punishment for himself.  
“Right.” The other woman nodded, sticking close to her as her Franchesca tried to nonchalantly shuffle off.  
“I-I… Mrs. Lusamine-”  
“Madam President that’s enough!!” Malachite’s voice tore the chaotic scene making most of the other employees to relax, but for her and Rose to tense and hide behind the group of employees.  
They were off for the day, but seeing them would only make Malachite’s suspicions rise and they didn’t need that when they were this damn close.  
“I know it’s been a while and I humbly apologize for that, but hurting my assistant isn’t going to speed up the process, It’s just going to slow us down! I will find it soon I promise you!! I will never stop searching until I find your beast and bring it back to you. Never. We already know who has it, that’s a big step. Bringing your beast to you won’t take long now.” He soothed her, even with the confidence and hint of rage in his voice, the man was definitely scared of her as he fiddled unsurely with an unseen object in his pocket.  
Lusamine turned her head to Malachite, nails still burrowed half in Archer’s cheek, “Branch Chief… there you are. I thought you might have run off to let Mr. Archer take your punishment for you, It would be very in character of you after all you coward.”  
Malachite twitched the rage flaring in his eyes, “I’m sorry Ma’am I was merely just… making an important phone call. Please, just let Archer go, he’s supposed to go out on another search for your beast again tonight with the others, I think we’re close to finding it, we need Archer in top shape if we do.”  
Lusamine paused for the longest time until she finally jerked her nails out of Archer making the smaller man yelp in pain and scramble away from her and behind Malachite’s legs, “I hope you appreciate this mercy I’m showing all of you. I’m really starting to lose my patience… Come back empty-handed again and you all will regret it, especially you Mr. Malachite. You’ll get more than just scratches on your face. I promise you that.” Lusamine growled her eyes sweeping the hall.  
“Yes Ma’am,” the ocean haired man growled looking down to avoid glaring murderously at the women.  
“Good, I’m glad you understand Branch Chief. Now I must be off, all this talk of my beast has made me terribly upset. I need a breather. I just miss him so much… poor thing with my cursed children and that… woman. He must miss me so much. I just hope they haven’t tainted him as much as I fear, my poor, poor beast. I just wish I could tell him that he'll be safe at home soon and hold him again even just for a second.” Lusamine said with a small sigh, smirking at Archer for a few seconds and his blood splattered face before she elegantly walked off, the blond man’s blood dripping from her nails and splattering all over the marble floor behind her.  
crazy fucktard, Franchesca thought with a small shake of her head, watching as Archer sat their, whimpering and violently twitching and shaking as he nervously tore a few handfuls of his hair out.  
Great, another one of these from Archer?!  
They didn’t need it now at all times!  
She and Rose could be stuck here for a while if Malachite couldn’t calm him down!  
“Archer, hey calm down she's gone alright?” Malachite told him, sounding more annoyed and tired than concerned for the blond.  
Archer just twitched, pulling more hair out of his head, starting to laugh nervously to himself.  
The high cackle of a noise, making everyone more uncomfortable than they already were.  
Malachite sighed and looked momentarily to the other employees running a hand through his extremely messy blue-green hair, “I’ll handle this you are all dismissed, just stay safe okay? And please try and stay as far away from the President as possible she's extremely unstable at the moment.”  
Says you, Francheaca thought rolling her hazel eyes, the taller man had been acting a little unhinged himself lately with all his little outbursts and angry tantrums that only seemed to get worse and worse every time he came back empty-handed in one of his search missions for Faba and especially after another one of his visits from the hospital to see Daymond.  
The other employees mumbled a shaky thanks to Malachite and all ran off with a few worried glances at Archer except for one meek male who lingered behind looking lost of a moment.  
“Oh… Aver? What are you… you’re not supposed to be here!”  
The man blinked, “oh… I’m just a little confused Malachite when were you made-”  
Malachite crossed his arms, “As I said you’re not supposed to be here Aver!” He huffed as he motioned an arm around the area.  
Aver blinked looking lost for a moment before the small employee's eyes went wide.  
The redhead stared at him now was thinking about it the man seemed extremely out of place in this situation..  
“Ohhh!” The tan man gasped, “S..sorry! I’ll just be going now!!” He apologized then was gone with a blink of an eye.  
“What the…” Francesca muttered, too caught up in watching the extremely weird exchange to make her escape with Rose leaving them out in the open to be seen by Malachite as Aver fucked off to whatever alternative dimension he came from.  
“Francesca.” the Branch Chief started softly as his dead looking ocean eyes landed on them unfairly fast, “Francesca… Rose, what are you two doing out here?”  
“What? Is it fucking illegal now to walk around the hallways of your workplace? Guess you better call the damn police on my ass then.” The redhead shot back.  
Malachite didn’t respond for a moment, muttering something to the still panicking Archer to help calm as he ripped out more of his hair him then turned back to her and Rose, “Don’t start with me. You almost always stay in your quarters and do Arcrus knows what on your days off, but you haven't really been in them lately have you? and I’ve never seen you even once with Rose.” He said, narrowing his eyes at the small girl.  
“We’re just having a girls day out for your information. We’ve grown pretty close ever since I was demoted,” She said smugly and touched the marks on her face, like hell going to even hint at the real reason she never went in her quarters anymore, with Faba’s fur and even some of his personal belongs in there.  
Malachite sighed and she swore he looked guilty for a second, “Right... Well, you should really stop slinking around. I know that might be hard for a slimy Nitkit like you Franchesca, but you should stay in your rooms even when your not working. You might not a scientist anymore, but you should know how angry the Presidents been lately. She’s been taking it out on everyone, even the grunts have taken notice of it.”  
Archer whimpered from the ground as if confirming this, the man had surprisingly stopped ripping at his hair and instead was rocking back and forth muttering odd things to himself.  
Francesca stared at the blue-green haired man for a moment, unsure if that was some kind of threat or if he was truly concerned for their well being.  
Malachite had made threats before in the past of course. Since the very beginning when he first joined the foundation, but they were rare and far between.  
Threats she thought were empty before until he turned Faba into a monster and made those threats he yelled at her old boss all those years ago a reality.  
Even back then he would put even her fits of anger to shame when it came to the old Branch Chief.  
“Franchesca and I will be fine, but thank you for the concern Branch Chief Malachite,” Rose said coolly.  
“We don’t need your shitty damn protection, thanks” Franchesca added clenching her fists.  
Malachite raised an eyebrow the corners of his lip twitching, “Why? Because I’m a man? I always knew you were a feminist for how aggressive you are around other men.”  
“Aggressive around men? Now Malachite isn’t that a little fucking hypocritical? You used to be the same damn way expect with Daymond who you failed to protect by the way, just like your doing shit at trying to protect the others and you expect us to trust that you’ll protect us when you already failed to protect him?”  
She shot back, even if the truth was he did do a good job protecting the other employees, more than Faba ever did half the time when he was still human and that what happened to Daymond was more her fault than his.  
Malachite narrowed his eyes, curling his hands into fists, “Remember your place Franchesca. I’m still your boss. Don’t you forget it.”  
“Oh! Of course Branch Chief Malachite, Sir! I apologize for my sarcastic remarks! I’m so sorry won’t you ever forgive me!?” She cried and bowed dramatically.  
Malachite wrinkled his nose, anger once again raising from within his ocean eyes, “Stop that! Seriously what has been up with you lately!? I haven’t done anything wrong! Why are you and everybody else so angry at me?! Why are you all so scared?! Daymond acted like that too, he was so mad at me! He yelled! He never yells at me!! We’re best friends and he was ignoring and snapping at me!! You and the others do it too!! You hated him, Franchesca, we were excited!! I don’t understand I just don’t! I never did anything wrong It was always him!! Always!” Malachite paused and shook his head as Francesca bite back a snippy remark about the real monsters in this situation.  
“Never mind, forget it, Francesca. Just stop it, you never know when to quit. You never have, you never will. Be careful with what you say… It might cost you your life one day.”  
Francesca chose not to reply to this, grinding her teeth, head still bowed.  
“Patrol, tomorrow and the following day, hell and the day after that too. You really haven’t had enough to do lately. Like I said stay away from the President, I mean it.” Malachite growled after a few moments then turned once again to Archer, “You going to be alright now?”  
“I… umm, I think so!” Archer said uneasily, his lanky form still twitching slightly.  
“Good. You stay away from her too Archer, and if you can, quit saying that weird shit around her. It just makes her more angry at you.”  
For once in his life, Archer didn’t reply with any odd arguments and just looked to the floor and wiped some of the blood from his face.  
“Get cleaned up. You can even work on those experiments you keep going on about when your done, just be sure to get everything ready for patrols tonight.”  
Malachite stared at them for a little longer, an odd look on his tired face as he eyed her bruise, and again she swore he looked worried before he finally walked off.  
Rose let out a sigh of relief, “I thought he would never leave. Oh, Francesca, I hate him so much! I always thought he was a little rude before because of how terrible he was to me just because I talked with Mr. Faba, but now.. he’s nothing but a heartless monster!”  
Francesca just grunted not arguing or agreeing with the statement, standing up properly just in time to see Archer jump back to his unsteady feet and basically sprinting over to them, stopping inches from her face, “Now that that’s all over… oww, oh how my face hurts! How is he, Francesca?! Is Daymond well!!? Doing better!!? Has he woken up to appreciate my wonderful gift!? It was a very nice gift it was, a very nice one!! I know how he oh so loves water types!!! So he must like it correct?!” Archer asked loudly then quickly patted his pockets where two Pokéballs shook, “Hey hey hey!! It’s okay now my lovely Pokémon!!! I’m simply fine for the most part so there's no need for your fretting!!”  
Rose crossed her arms, “You and he aren’t friends Archer! I heard about what happened you just let Daymond be thrown into the ocean! You could have done something, but you just stood there!”  
Francesca grabbed her arm in warning.  
She might not like Archer either, hated him even, she been thinking about using his liking for Daymond to get him to do what she needed him to.  
The woman had already been looking for an opportunity to talk to him in private to try and get him to talk about things only he would know and this looked like a perfect one.  
Geez, Arcrus himself must be dropping down these blessings to them, Wicke than Archer, it made her slightly nervous if all this luck would eventually have a price.  
“I shouldn’t have let her done that!! You're right I shouldn’t have!! I was just so frustrated with him when he was ignoring me like everyone else always does and for helping the experiment getaway as it did! It was such an interesting experiment Rose!! Such a… intriguing amazing experience I had so much fun with it! Amazing! Amazing It was! With the brainstorming for the parts when they formed and grew and the making of the serum itself!!! I haven’t had that much fun since the experiment with the creation of all the cute little Type: Nulls! Oh, I could go on and on about such exquisite experiments! Such fun!! Such fun!! ” Archer exclaimed jumping up and down a few times with a large grin on his face to both the women's disgust, before stopping a sad frown back on his face, rocking on his feet once again.  
“But… I shouldn’t have let her do that, even if she dis hurt me again. I… was just mad at Daymond. Scared of the President!! I don’t like the Foundation right now, even if I’m allowed to conduct all my amazing experiments!! Things aren’t like they used to be at all! So nice and happy. I just wish things would go back to the way they were, not just before The Ultra Beast Project, but before… everything. I don’t like it when the President is allowed to hurt me that much! I don’t like it when she hurts the others for no reason!! she’s not even doing it for any type of experiments!”  
“Back to the way things were? Do you mean when Mohn was President?” She whispered, staring at Archer with the most dumbfounded look on her face, Archer missed those time too then?  
It was hard to read Archer sometimes, he always acted the same with his unchecked energy and constant excitement about literally everything especially when it came to his extremely unethical experiments.  
It made a little sense though, like Daymond, Mohn always treated Archer and really mostly everyone else very kindly when all the others avoided the crazy haired scientist like the plague for how much of a creepy, eccentric oddball he was.  
She knew how happy he was with his experiments it was clear Archer definitely craved some kind of friendship or any small kind of human affection at all with how much he tried to force in self in conversations he wasn’t involved in and laugh, very loudly at jokes that weren’t that funny.  
“Ya… I miss him! Do you miss Mohn Francesca!? Because I do! I miss him! I miss those days he was President!! Remember when we all used to play games in the break room together!? It was so fun even if Catherine always won them. We would always sing karaoke as we cleaned around the foundations!"  
“How couldn’t I?” She said in a low whisper as poor Rose just looked confused as she had joined much, later on, to even remotely understand what they were reminiscing about.  
Francesca was never one to think back on good memories all to often, but she couldn’t help but smile faintly even in her shitty mood.  
She really did miss those days when she was a grunt for the first time so much.  
Everything was so laid back and happy where she actually enjoyed going to work, helping Pokémon and interesting with her bizarre coworkers.  
Playing games and joking around with one another in the staff room.  
Going to arcades, the beach, malasada shops and out to eat together from time to time.  
Even Faba seemed to smile from time to time and even joined them in their games on a few rare occasions as did Malachite when he wasn’t around Faba that is.  
Mohn had definitely been the kindest boss or really person Francesca had ever met and made the effort to try and talk to her and the other employees and called each and every one of them by their first name.  
It felt like a little more like a big friend group than a workplace.  
All because Mohn treated his coworkers not like employees, but as friends.  
Aether Paradise has truly been a paradise then..  
All that was obviously gone now, It had all died with the old president and became hell.  
So many old employees quit soon after as the foundations slipped further into darkness’s under Lusamine’s control, twisting them like they were no more than disposable puppets.  
She missed so many of them especially Catherine who she used to play poker together and sass people with.  
They had even known each other in her teens for a while and helped Franchesca through some hard times.  
The last time she ran into her though confused why she never called, Catherine didn’t seem to remember her or anything involving the foundation when she last ran into her.  
She supposed it’s what first sparked the majority of her hatred for Faba.  
Why she gladly agreed to help out in the Ultra Beast Project.  
The small handful who remind from those old days were really only her, Markus, Samantha, Reganold, Archer, Malachite, Daymond and Roy. who all stayed for a different reason.  
Some to scared to quit, others stayed to protect the others and warn the new grunts to get out when they still could, or very desperately needed the money but most of them stayed simply because Aether was the closest thing to a home they had.  
All of them weren't exactly nasty or rude to each other after all that, but It was nothing like the friend group they had from before.  
They were still together in a sense and watched each others back, but now it was more like they were all on the same sinking ship together.  
Desperately trying to save something, not really because of the ship not anymore, even with all the good times, but because if the ship sank so would they be forever lost in the cruelness of the sea.  
It was a twisted yet smart move on Lusmine’s part for making it as such.  
The heartless bitch made sure that not a soul left on her part without a crippling prise.  
Aether was her home as well, like a lot of the others, but it also was her prison all the same.  
Franchesca loved her family, her stepdad especially, but it could be so awkward around her mother sometimes.  
After what she did, how couldn’t it?  
Trapped in her workplace she used to love so much, who would have fucking thought?  
“Well I suppose you couldn’t miss it all!! It’s just highly unlikely!! I think even Roy smiled back then! Now, about Daymond, Francesca! Tell me will you not?!! Tell me how Daymond is!!”  
Francesca could see Rose glare at him, probably about to stay something snappy, so the redhead decided to speak instead, “He’s in bad shape Archer, the doctors still aren’t sure if he’ll ever wake up.”  
The blond man violently flinched, “What!? I don’t know Mrs. Lusmine hurt him that bad! That’s awful! That’s not good! That’s bad! That’s very bad!”  
Hmm, Archer was really upset about all this, his mind was on it now, her hooks were in him as deep as they would possibly go, this was her main chance to lure him in.  
She knew Archer wouldn’t rat them out purposely if things went south, but she definitely couldn’t tell him the whole story.  
The man had a habit to blab and talk on and on about the dark experiments he did to complete strangers and spill secret Aether information if literally anyone asked him about it.  
It was why he was rarely allowed out in public without a babysitter.  
“You're pretty upset with Lusamine huh Archer? She’s the main person that hurt Daymond like that.”  
“Ya, I guess! She scratched my face really hard to! It really hurts when she does that and it makes Mrs. Zaps and Bullseye really mad!”  
“Right, well I could really use your help with something. It might make things go back to the way they were before.” she whispered to him.  
“Oh wow!!! Really Francesca?!! Just like before!?” Archer yelled.  
“Shhh!” Rose hissed softly, looking unsure, but didn’t vocalize any of her opposeure.  
“Yes, really. Listen you're Assistant Branch Chief right? So you must be able to get into Malachite’s office… Do you know the code?”  
“Uh-huh! It’s 07182239! Oh um don’t tell Branch Chief Malachite I told you, please!! he told me not to tell anyone, he’ll get so mad and yell at me! he's really scary when he yells..”  
Francesca felt her lips twitch, good they had been trying to get in his office for months with no luck, now they could get the papers documents she knew he had somewhere, the ones Keven couldn’t retrieve by computer hacking.  
It made her feel a little stupid that with all their complicated attempts all they had to do was to simply ask Archer.  
“We won’t Archer and also, I know your head of some search groups for the next few days, could you do me a big favor and make sure you don’t search anywhere near the... east part of the Island? And turn a blind eye if I happen to disappear for a while?”  
“B-but President Lusamine said-”  
“Archer, this will help things get better for everyone.”  
The blond man looked hesitant rocking on the balls of his feet and tapping his left foot rapidly, “Umm, okay Francesca.” he finally mumbled.  
Francesca stopped herself from sighing and grinned slyly down at Archer, “Thanks Arch, just try to not to let us down.”  
The blond man’s bright blue eyes light up at this, “Arch? Arch?! That is not my name Francesca!! It is clearly a shortening of my name!! Could it be… that you just gave me a nickname?! Oh, how wonderful! A nickname! Daymond called me by one once you know! According to my books on human behavior, only friends and family give each other nicknames!! And based on your personal chart you rarely give nicknames so you must think of me as a friend just like Daymond does!! Oh, what a wonderful day this is for me!!!” Archer exclaimed and without warning lunged forward, wrapping his skinny arms around her and hugged Franchesca tightly, getting his blood all over the front of her shirt.  
“Hey! That’s not what she-” Rose started as Francesca flinched and gaped at his oddness her skin crawling at the unexpected touch, just barely stopping herself from punching him swear in the nose on reflex.  
“Oh yay!! A friend!! Francesca is my new friend! I have two now!! That’s the most I’ve ever had!! How fantastic!! How amazingly spectacular!! Don’t worry my friend! In return for your friendship, I will give you a nice nickname as well, hmmm how about Franny?!”  
Francesca smiled warmly at him, “If you don’t let me go right now or call me that again and I’ll stab you to death with a screwdriver and let Glaze rip your corpse to tiny fucking shreds.”  
Archer squealed and quickly let her go and went back to his rocking, “Ow! Umm please don’t do that!! how about-”  
“Archer, look you can pay me back by helping me out with more stuff later alright?”  
“Ya, later Franchesca and I have to go!” Rose said impatiently, glaring intently at Archer once again.  
“Aww really?” Archer whined.  
“Ya, sorry Arch. Don’t you have to go do a new experiment or something?” the red head asked hoping he would take the bait.  
“Oh yes!! Yes I do! I’ll have to tell you all about it later Francesca I’m cutting off Pokémon’s legs and trying go to regrow them!! It’s so fun!! Well, bye, bye for now new friend!!” Archer said with a few jumps in the air smiling widely at her and Rose before with a frantic wave that looked like it hurt his arm turned and dashed down the hall in a cartoonish fashion, nearly running into the wall as he turned down the hallway.  
Francesca immediately sagged as he disappeared.  
That guy could really suck the energy out of her.  
“I swear Archer becomes more and weirder every time I talk to him, you think he’s a junkie or something?”  
“He’s insane that’s what he is. It’s good that he’s kind of on our side, but I wanted to yell at him so bad about how sick he is. He enjoyed what he did to Mr. Faba! Those documents were beyond awful!” Rose yelled in frustration.  
“He’s not exactly insane, Just really, really weird. I wouldn’t even say he’s sadistic just really fucking weird. I don’t think he enjoyed any of Faba’s pain just the experiment parts of it, not that he’s not a really twisted motherfucker for ir. You think his parents didn’t hug him enough or something?”  
Rose just shook her head, “Let’s just not tell him about anything else, we really can’t have anything else in the plans change up. We’ve been going all over the place lately with them.”  
Francesca sighed and bit her lip, she really had been getting rash with the plans, but she wanted all this to be over and to do that they needed to get as many people working with her to fix everything.  
Before it was too late.  
‘You're saying that like you know for sure all his body and mind will be restored, you know they might not, don’t kid yourself you stupid whore it’s already been too late for a long time’, a voice in the back of her head said smugly.  
Too late Too late Too late.  
You’re too late Francesca.  
The redhead shook her head, “I’m not going to give him a letterman’s jacket for our team if that’s what your thinking, now enough about Archer we can shit talk him later we need to get the USB from Keven and make plans to get to the meeting place.”  
“You really think they’ll come?”  
“As sure I am as when we go see Keven he would have already eaten another eraser or two.” Franchesca said confidently.  
“I hope you're right.. we need them, just like you said.” Rose sighed, taking the lead as she and Francesca walked down to the old lab her group worked in, Both of them prayed, each hoping that things would go their way.  
For if it was all for nothing, they truly would lose everything and Faba would the louse the little he had left.  
~  
To both Gladion’s and Wickes relief, only Rose and Franchesca were present when they stepped on to the ledge just like they had promised ‘with Franchesca anxiously pacing around.  
Gladion’s hand didn’t move from his pokeballs, “We-”  
“Hear,” Franchesca interrupted, taking Rose’s premier and great ball from her as she then took her luxury ball from her own pocket and held them out to Wicke, “Take them, we can’t attack you with too much success without them."  
Wicke took the pokeballs and carefully put them into her pocket.  
“We're here, so tell us everything like you said you would. What’s so important about Em… the Fabeast compared to the other ultra beasts? Is he even really an ultra beast at all or is he man-”  
“Wheres Faba at?” the purple-haired woman next to him blurred out, giving Gladion a guilty glance for interrupting him.  
Rose swallowed, “They umm, No he's not really an ultra best, but he does have a lot of ultra beast DNA and blood in him, right Franchesca?”  
The redhead nodded, “Rightyo, but you two have the wrong idea about the… Fabeast being man-made in the way you think, even if we did fucking create him in our twisted ass way. Things are a lot more complicated and twisted than that, more so than you ever could have imagined.”  
“And as for Mr. Faba,” Rose butted in her voice choking up as she spoke, “H-he really is s-safe right now Miss Wicke! I promise he’s somewhere where he’ll be cared for a lot.”  
“But, where is he!? Your still not giving me an answer! You said you would tell me so tell me, Rose!” Wicke said with her voice close to a yell.  
Rose just bit her lip and stayed silent as Franchesca pulled a small black object out of another one of her pockets.  
Why did Rose keep getting choked up about Faba?  
She wouldn't be getting like that if he was fine!  
He knew it, something bad must have happened, but what?  
“Hey, you're supposed to be answering our questions!” Gladion snapped, “you're just dancing around them and being cryptic again!”  
“I know what we said! But it was the only thing we could say they could get you to come! You wouldn't believe it if we flat out told you! Things are so horrible and fucked up. You would just call us meth heads if we told you right now and I wouldn't blame you. I can hardly believe it myself half the damn time, just… take this. Everything you need to know is on it.” Franchesca said holding the black object to Wicke.  
Gladion tensed before realizing it was just a USB drive.  
They had mentioned it before at the hospital, but Gladion definitely didn’t trust it.  
“This time you’ll get answers for sure I swear. I.. I’m sorry I had to lie to you alright! but I only did it because I didn’t have a fucking choice! Just take it, please.. I need to make this up to him as much as I can.”  
Wicke slowly reached a hand to the USB at the slight pleading in the woman's voice before Gladion stopped her by grabbing her arm, “And how do we know this thing isn’t a tracking device or some kind of camera, for all we know we could be ambushed as soon as we get back to where Emerald is?”  
“Kid… Gladion take it, it’s not a-”  
“How do we know that?! Tell me how are we supposed to know that!” Gladion snarled.  
“And how do we know you're not lying about this too?” Wicke asked with narrowed eyes as she withdrew her hand.  
The redhead's hand trembled, “PLEASE!” she said, to Gladions surprize dropping to her knees and put her forehead on the ground, “Please trust us! It won’t track you! It won’t I swear on my worthless fucking grave it won’t! It’ll give you the answers you want, hell even answers you don’t fucking want, so just take it please! I… we all need your help to help F.. him please! You’re the last hope we have… please just please… take it”  
“F-Francesca...” Rose gasped in concern and put a hesitant hand on her shoulder that made the redhead recoil away.  
Gladion’s stomach twisted seeing her on her knees like that. Their wasn’t even a trace of sarcasm in her voice now.  
The woman sounded so desperate and to get in a position like that and beg like a pokemon.  
He knew Franchesca wasn’t overly proud or egotistical, but she didn’t bend easily to people unless it was in a sarcastic fashion.  
This time the blond boy didn’t move to stop her as Wicke leaned down and took the USB clutched for dear life in her hand, “Get off your knees Franchesca.” the woman told her softly.  
Francesca let out a shaky sigh of relief that sounded too close to a sob to Gladion’s liking standing back up with a little assistance from Rose.  
“Just be careful with it… this isn’t something we have an unlimited stash of and It would be extremely difficult to find you again and get you another, it’s already dangerous enough for us to be out here as it is.”  
“And be sure to watch the videos first! You can read the documents after that.” Rose said softly.  
“Note taken...” Gladion sighed, his gut churning at the thought of whatever was on those videos.  
The gory creation of Emerald perhaps or them ‘training’ him? Whatever 'effection' his mother put him through?  
“W-will it tell me anything about Faba?” Wicke asked in a strained tone of voice.  
“Ya... It definitely will, you’ll learn exactly where he is.” Franchesca said softly.  
“Thank you,” Wicke told them, clutching the USB close, “If you're both being truthful then you're both taking a big risk for this.”  
That they were. Gladion knew Franchesaca would gain more facial marks and Rose new ones if his mother found out about what they were doing or more likely even worse.  
“Here,” Wicke said after a moment and slowly handed them their pokeballs back to them after sharing a confirming nod with Gladion, “Me and Gladion are going to leave now, I don’t want the Pokemon in the cave to attack you.”  
“You better not let them out and attack us as we leave either. Wicke might show you mercy, but I won’t go easy.” He added with little emotion in his voice.  
“Actually I can’t say I’ll go easy either, it would mean your lying about Faba.”  
“I’m not,” Rose said softly and gently tucked her pokeballs back in her pocket.  
“Oh and Before you two leave, the UBS does tell you everything, but you still might have a few questions that need answering. I can’t sneak away again today nether can Rose, but I think I’ll be able to make it tomorrow. Same place, same time alright? It’ll only be me, I have another patrol then.” Francesca added last minute.  
“We'll see,” Gladion told her underhandedly, doubting it would come to that as he and Wicke began to back out of the cave, being careful not to tear their eyes from the employees.  
“T-take good care of the ultra beast for us too please!” Rose called after them, “H-he’s already been through so much so spoil him rotten!”  
“I… I know he might be an annoying little shit sometimes, but he definitely deserves all the spoiling! A-and doesn’t get too mad at him if he rips up any sheets! H-he doesn’t mean to! And definitely make sure to pet him a lot! Even if it is a little fucking weird!” Franchesca joined in and Gladion couldn’t help but pick up that both women sounded as if they were ready to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Somewhere in an alternate dimension-  
> Archer: *happy Archer noises*  
> Faba: "What is it Mr. Archer, spit it out this instant! What on earth as got yo this wild up so much more so than usual? Please don't tell me you got into the coffee again!"  
> Archer: "Oh no sir, no!! But you know how the firssssst time I drank coffee I told you all the other wonderful employees how I got many, many glimpses of different third dimensions!!?? How many things I saw, oh yes I did!! I saw a word, but without me and Franca or even Daymond!! no Daymond must have been a horrible world! and I saw Malachite, but sir he got along very nicely with you!! and I saw this odd man get half his face ripped off it was sooo magnificent to see how the other Type: Null of that word reacted and-"  
> Faba: *rolling eye* "get on with Mr. Archer, I'm a very busy man and don't have time for your bizarre antics!"  
> Archer: "W..Well! As I remember looking in the other dimensions and I saw the most adorable little creature I have ever seen in another word. I..I think It might be an ultra best or somehting, I'm not sure at all! But it was sooo cute with its big sharp fangs and horns and all those stingers! ohhh! It's just so cute sir, so I decided to pull it into our dimension!!"  
> Faba: "You.. you fucking what?! You brought an unknown creature into the foundations!?!"  
> Archer: "Uh huh!!" Look Branch Chief it's right heard I'm calling it Limia!" *steeps aside revealing a green scale creature.*  
> UB Faba: *Whining and growling*  
> Faba: "Wa..what is that thing!?"  
> Archer: "Like I said I think It's an ultra beast! it doesn't seem to like me thought it keeps crying and screaming!! It hurts my ears!!"  
> UB Faba: *looks up to human Faba and walks up to him*  
> Faba: "A..Archer get that beast away from me, I command it!"  
> Archer: "But I think Limia likes you, sir!! Pet it pleaseee? maybe it will stop it from being so sad!"  
> Faba: "a.. Fine!" *pats UB Faba's head* "There now calm down at once!"  
> UB Faba: *purring and rubs against his hand.*  
> Archer: "aww see sir! Isn't he sooo cute!?"  
> Faba: "I suppose it's a tad on the cute side, whatever this thing is. your in deep trouble for doing something as idiotic as bringing this creature here and I suppose that for the time being I, for the time being, I will look after it to find out what on earth it is and if it posses a threat to Aether. How about it beast, if you can understand me that is how does it sound to be looked after by the grate and powerful Faba?!"  
> UB Faba: *jumps up and down and guggles happily.*


	27. The Shadow Of A So Called Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gladion and Wicke see what's on the USB.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos ya'll!  
> Unlike all the other times I don't want to waste my time on blabbing on with intros too much, this is it, the group is going to find out who Emeral really is, theirs nothing more to explain.  
> Let's just say this one will be a lot longer than all the others which made my editor displeased with me.  
> The next one will be shorter, but the few after that will defiantly be extremely long, so long that I'm going to have to split them into multiple parts.  
> Anyways you probably want to get into the extremely fucked up shit show and I really hope all of you enjoy the show I wrote for you.  
> I spent an extra long time perfecting it to make it as sad and fuck up as possible for you all to enjoy, I know a lot of you have been waiting for this moment for good reason after all and so have I really.  
> I'm happy to say It even hurt me writing a few of the parts, so hopefully, It hurts you too!  
> Anyways I apologize for any spelling errors and improper sentence structure and with that let's get fucking into it!!

Even as no employees attacked them when they finally made their way out of the cavern and they heard no footsteps follow their trail both Wicke and Gladion decided to go elsewhere to plug in the USB.  
Even if they did trust Rose and Franchesca for the most part, it was better to be safe than sorry, in case the thing really was some kind of tracker. And as Wicke’s hotel wasn’t far, the two headed there.  
Glancing around a few times to make sure no one was following or watching them, the two entered the room.  
Gladion settling on the bed as Wicke grabbed her laptop from a nearby desk, opening it and sat down next to him.  
The woman visibly tensing as she plugged the USB in the side of her computer. Gladion was half expecting it not to work but his heart ended up skipping a beat when a tab instantly opened up across the monitor with two videos only labeled by time and five documents titled: Serum Creation, Subject UB Form, Subject aftermath of serum, BB Pain Relief, Antidote for BB into BM. “They were telling the truth!” Wicke breathed, “I had a feeling Rose wasn’t lying to us!” “And look it’s Daymond!” Gladion said pointing at the second video which had a much earlier date on it with a freeze-frame of his mother grasping the tan man by his wrist.  
The two looked at each other before Wicke clicked on it and just as Gladion thought it began with the two screaming back and forth on the topic of Emerald with Daymond for some reason mentioning Faba and the potentially horrible things they had done to him.  
A very strange and concerning thing to say considering the guy didn’t like Faba.  
A few more employees coward in the background, as her mother became increasingly angry at the man then quick as a flash the blond woman let out one of her Pokémon and set the unsuspecting employee flying with a powerful shadow claw, despite the other employees screams for her not too.  
Gladion fought not to flinch, he knew his mother hurt the man of course, but seeing it happen was a whole nother story entirely.  
The guy looked so terrified in those last few seconds, his large eyes and small size compared to her almost made him look like prey within the claws of a merciless Persian.  
It made Gladion wonder why the hell Malachite was blaming Emerald for this happening, what happened to Daymond was clearly his mother’s and only his mother’s only doing.  
Why was he blindly blaming Emerald for everything?  
It so was stupid of him! Emerald hadn’t hurt Daymond at all!  
He just hated and abused the beast for no reason!  
Some damn friend he was for continuing to work with this mother after what she did to his best friend.  
He just really hoped the guy woke up, his mother had taken enough away from people, she couldn’t take away a human life.  
“Do you need a moment? Or can I click on the first video now?” Wicke asked him faintly, staring at him in concern. “Go ahead, the other video didn’t look too interesting anyway, it’s probably just mother talking to herself like a crazy person or throwing another one of her tantrums again,” he said firmly, although feeling a trickle of unease run through him, even when the still frame on the video was just his mother sitting alone in her office.  
Something about this particular video felt evil to him for reasons he was about to understand.  
“Well only if you’re ready,” Wicke said unsurely then clicked on the dreaded video.  
Nothing of interest happened for the first ten seconds until Faba walked in.  
Gladion felt his blood turn to ice as Malachite’s words, Franchesca’s and Rose’s repeated in his head their faces whenever the blond was mentioned.  
What Daymond had just said.  
The topic of the man’s absence and the calls he failed to pick up for months now.  
This video was here for a reason, so this meeting between them wasn’t just going to be a chat where they both talked about the weather over tea.  
Gladion felt like he was force-fed a bolder that didn’t just sink in his stomach, but tear all the way through it, what was mother about to do to him?  
“Faba.” Wicke gasped in a mix of emotions.  
The video went on with the man putting his leave on his mother’s desk and to the boy’s surprise quitting right there.  
Had he really quit? But then… why was this in here?  
Wicke relaxed for a moment until his mother began to yell at her Branch Chief and aggressively lunged towards him.  
Until she defeated his Hypno and threw him against the wall like a rag doll making Wicke gasp and yell for the women to stop.  
Gladion’s stomach twisted, Faba looked so small crumpled against the wall like that.  
The man had never been tall, but it was only now Gladion realized just how small and skinny he really was, appearing all too delicate and fragile just like a piece of glass.  
Words he would never in a million years would have thought he would call the arrogant, head strong man.  
It felt wrong, unnatural.  
His mother smiled at the smaller man pulling him up like he weighed nothing which was probably close to what he actually did and took a strange needle out of her pocket.  
He and Wicke making noises of alarm as she plunged the cursed thing deep into Faba’s neck.  
Electric blue liquid flowed into his bloodstream, his veins glowing bright blue for a moment under his skin as the serum flowed through them.  
Both of them along with everything around them went dead silent, their faces frozen in horror as the blond man began to wither and screamed so loud Gladion quickly turned down the volume down to the last bar with quivering hands, but even with that, the screams felt like there were going to make his eardrums bleed.  
He had never heard screams that sounded like that before, the closest thing being the cry’s the Silvally’s would make during their testing.  
They were something so raw and guttural like they were coming from the very depths of his soul.  
Quite literally dragged out of him without consent.  
Faba screamed, and screamed and screamed and screamed, a horrible agonized sound mixed with sobs and pleas, real pleases for someone to help free him from this agony, but nobody came as he slowly painfully grew the green scales Lillie had commented were so pretty, the fangs that not too long ago he had bared at Gladion, the tail that wagged so often around Wicke and the glowing blue eyes that Gladion now understood looked so human.  
The changes continued, Faba’s complexion melting away and become moulded into the creature Lillie dubbed Emerald, the monster Aether called The Fabeast.  
He shivered as his mother pet the ultra beast? Emerald? Faba? like he was another one of her Pokémon and left him alone as the creature that used to be the man Gladion hated so much, shrieked and screamed and cried then the video ended with a good look at Faba curled up on the ground with a large pool of blood and flesh surrounding him like a fucked up abstract painting.  
The visors Gladion once made fun of, gleaming brightly at him from the floor.  
They were both silent for a long time until Gladion gagged, both mentally and physically sick to his stomach, “H-holy shit! F-fuck FUCK! Emerald is Faba! Emerald is fucking Faba! Mother… Lusamine she… she fucking. Oh, Arceus...” he gasped in a single breath.  
Wicke didn’t scold him for his chosen words, didn’t reply or say anything to him at all just stared at the computer screen with a hand over her mouth, paler than Gladion knew humanly possible and shaking hard enough that the blond boy could feel the bed vibrate, nearly making her laptop fall off her lap.  
“Wicke?” Gladion whispered, his own voice failing to stay strong.  
If he felt this disgusted, horrified, sick and awful watching that happen to someone he hated, how the hell was Wicke feeling?  
He knew she cared a lot about the guy so much, had been worrying about him non stop and calling him again and again.  
Calls that he had been almost positive the blond had just been ignoring and was just lounging around in the lap of luxury in somewhere like Unova, petting his stupid Hypno and sipping expensive wine when really all this had been happening and Faba had been right under their noses the whole time just in a different skin or more scales.  
The woman still said nothing, instead her quivering hands moving from her mouth to click of the first document; Serum creation.  
Gladion hesitated at the lack of reaction from her, not even bothering to look into her eyes, holding who knows what kind of emptiness in them.  
Not knowing what to do or say for that matter Gladion put a hand on the one that wasn’t scrolling in the best comfort he could think to give her at the moment.  
At the very top above everything was a title, The Ultra Beast Project.  
Just bellow it were the main leaders of the evil project, the first name making him feel even sicker and angrier than he already was, Malachite Jameson Zepther and a little below it the second in command, Archer Quill Quiver.  
Gladion hissed softly, Malachite had been in charge of all this.  
Archer wasn’t a surprise, he hardly talked to the guy, but from the things he would say when experimenting on Silvally back in the day Gladion knew the guy was an extremely sick fucker who loved detailing all the pain and horrible details of a fucked up experiment he conducted in his precious journal of torment he knew he kept lying around somewhere.  
But with Malachite, he knew the guy wasn’t sadistic like Archer, but he definitely knew what this serum crap would do to Faba, in fact, the way it was written Malachite sounded excited and ecstatic even to make the serum do the ungodly things even more so than Archer which was saying a lot.  
It sickened him to the point where he gagged again, what he thought Malachite did before was bad, but this was evil, there was no way of putting this any other way, it was evil.  
His eyes drifted below the first names where less than a dozen others were, all people who played their own part to turn their hated boss into an unholy abomination.  
Samantha Ray, Roy Blitz, Daymond Hays, but one name, in particular, stood out like a beacon shooting off rainbow colored fireworks in a vast desert, Francheca Reed. “She was directly involved!” Gladion growled to Wicke, “Franchesca was directly involved with all this shit! She fucking wanted to do this to him!” “T-that bitch,” was the only thing Wicke uttered out in both rage and horror.  
The boy’s eyes widened, he had never heard the women call someone that before, but he couldn’t say he blamed her too much and didn’t try to defend the redhead as Wicke let out a low growl and rapidly scrolled down more.  
Reading all of it was extremely disturbing to say the very least, as it went on and on about the poison from one of the Nihilego along with many other hazardous sounding chemicals that would be forcibly pumped into Faba’s bloodstream.  
Speaking in detail how the serum would affect his body and mind, how it would make him feel the urge to be obedient to his mother and take away every single memory he had including as far back as his childhood.  
It was supposed to make him think in a much more primal state, similar to that of an extremely wild Pokemon.  
Gladion’s nausea only got worse, it was despicable enough to twist his body into something that didn’t belong to him, but to take his humanity and memories away as well?  
His personality as shitty as it was, his mind and intelligence and strip it away from him?  
Faba... he hated how prideful and arrogant the guy was and always found it deserving on the occasion he was dragged down a level, but imagining the guy never correcting him to say his proper title or talk on and on about how amazing he was made his heart skip a beat.  
It was sick that they had willingly made something that would do that to the man, sick that his mother had wanted all this to happen to Faba.  
This was pure evil of all of them, there was no going back for his mother after all this.  
She had crossed a line he believed should never have been stepped remotely neer.  
But, why would she even do this to Faba of all people?  
Was it just to get him to obey and stay obedient or maybe even because he used to be friends with his father?  
It would make more sense thinking back on the things she said in the office after all Faba had mentioned briefly mentioned him.  
Gladion ground his teeth harshly, It didn’t really matter what the reasoning behind it was, what mattered now was the actions his mother took.  
The sins she had inflicted on another person  
The document continued to go on about how exactly how the serum was made to change his DNA both drastically and quickly which wasn’t all too helpful to Gladion at least or more confusing as It went into more detail about the different types of cells that were going to be changed, molecules that were going to be rearranged, and even Faba’s biology.  
The horrific descriptions only ended with them mentioning the creations of not just one, but several very different serums in the making with the final product being the ‘president's choice of design’ whatever the hell that meant.  
His question was quickly answered as Wicke inhaled and exhaled sharply, still shaking on the bed when she clicked on; Subject UB Form.  
On it were several vastly different, creatures, monsters, and ultra beast like things with a description of each of the abominations and their different parts at the bottom.  
There were ones with feathers or fur, hooves and Hoodour like snouts and paws and in a variety of sizes, some even had multiple legs or tails.  
One of the beasts even looked a lot like Silavlly with a large elegant head crest, feathers and shark front claws.  
Most of the abomination looking creatures were white and gold in color and had perfect patterns of diamonds and symbols of the Aether Foundation imprinted on their fur, feathers or scales akin to some horrible branding mark as if they were objects or slaves of some sort.  
Near the bottom of the page was the scaly green creature he had become familiar with, except with a few minor differences to its body that took away the few human details Faba presently had, a large golden star by the side of the blueprint.  
The description at the bottom… Gladion had just seen it happen, but the thought of Malachite and the others knowing fully just how agonizing the change would be and made it so the horns would literally rip a chunk of his flesh out, was beyond words.  
Malachite was sick, Mother was sick, all of the employees that did this were sick, he… he felt sick… sick that his fellow humans were capable of doing something this awful without batting an eye or showing any hint of emotion towards it.  
A footnote that Gladion nearly missed was at the very bottom of the page that was, for the most part, a very strange complaint written by Archer, whining about how Malachite destroyed the rest of the serums that had been made.  
The ones mother didn’t approve of, the man expressing his disappointment at not being able to test it on other more... younger subjects.  
“W-what the fuck!” Gladion hissed in disgust.  
Did he seriously consider turning more people into Ultra Beasts?!  
As if Faba alone wasn’t bad enough… after that video, Gladion thought even hell seemed more welcoming compared to what happened to a person when turned into a beast by that serum.  
The fact that he even considered turning others… even kids into these beasts made him feel sicker than he already felt.  
Even with the small amount of relief knowing the serum was destroyed he still felt uneasy.  
“I always had a feeling Archer was a psychopath, but geez!” he mumbled.  
Again Wicke didn’t reply, biting her lip so hard that Gladion saw a small trickle of blood fall down her chin tears welling in her eyes that refused to fall, gripping Gladion's hand even harder making him wince as they clicked on the third document; Subject Aftermath of Serum.  
Gladion wanted to stop her, ask if she was okay even if it was a dumb question, but just continued reading instead.  
He didn’t want to push her right now, he was afraid if she did, the woman would break on him, and that was the last thing they both needed.  
Right now they needed to know what happened… the truth behind all of this.  
The next document was somehow even more horrific than the rest, especially as a few photos of Faba on a mental operating table popped up, a very large open gash on his stomach with his flesh and scales folded back that showed his organs.  
The other pictures showing them being moved around into different positions because he apparently had been vomiting blood and screaming nonstop.  
There were more flaws that followed, but these were good ones to Gladion.  
Apparently, the serum hadn’t worked entirely on this mind after all, he was confused about his twisted new body when he shouldn’t have been, dragged himself around because he didn’t know how to walk on all fours and refused to eat the pokemon food he was given, the writing even telling how he almost starved to death at one point.  
Which is when they started to force feed him.  
It made Gladion feel guilty remembering the argument he had with Lillie about trying to make him eat it.  
Faba wasn’t entirely obedient either at least not with the employees and fought back against everyone, Malachite especially.  
Fighting that Malachite definitely didn’t seem happy about and wrote about ‘putting him in his place.’  
The man was trying to break him, but the real question was, had he succeeded?  
Gladion thought back for a moment just how arrogant ‘Emerald’ acted every now and then.  
No, he hadn’t, not entirely.  
Some of the real Faba was still there, extremely faded, but still there nonetheless.  
Gladion couldn’t suppress a small smirk when it wrote on about just how hard Faba would bite and scratch Malachite.  
Wounds that would even leave a few scars and on the occasion mentioned when he attempted to stab him with one of his stingers that could have very well have killed him.  
That smirk of his quickly fell when it spoke more of training.  
Arceus no wonder Faba was so afraid of the ocean eyed man now, what it was describing just sounded like one on one torture sessions under the mercy of Malachite and that wasn’t all the Branch Chief also made him ware a…  
Gladion gaped.  
“They… they put a shock collar on him?!” he groaned, turning away from the screen swallowing the sickness that began to rise in his throat as the document ended there.  
Wicke removed her hand from the mouse pad and began to breathe heavily in and out, “They… why would they do this?” she finally spoke in a choked whisper unable to hold anything back any longer, “w-why? They hurt him! Malachite… I never would have thought… That bastard he… Oh Arcrus please no, no this can’t be happening! It can’t be, it just can’t, it can’t, it can’t, it can’t!” she exclaimed voice bouncing between horror and rage, “Gladion It can’t, It can’t! It has to be fake! All this has to be! Lusamine wouldn’t do something that twisted! It has to be fake! There’s no way that damn women would go this far for her obsession!!”  
Gladion shook his head rapidly his anger flaring at the mention of his mother, “Wicke! You saw that video! You can’t fake shit like that! You can’t fake screams like those! And even if you could, why would they do this?! Just to trick us?! Seems a little convoluted to me!! Did you not read those documents!? They were detailed as hell!! Emerald is Faba Wicke!! They turned Faba into a monster! A damn Ultra Beast!”  
‘More so than he already was’ a dark voice whispered softly.  
Wicke bowed her head, her body shaking even more as she gripped her head with both hands, “Real? Real... it’s real! It... IT’S REAL!” she sobbed.  
“I-I’m sorry Wicke,” Gladion could only think to say, very slowly touching her back and rubbed it in small circles, an action she used to do often with him when he had cried after something his mother had done.  
The women only choked on another one of her sobs, gasping loudly as if she was trying to stop herself.  
She made a few more of the gasping noise, thereby forcefully stopping her cries as she shook her head side to side, Gladion caught the glimmer of more tears in her eyes as she looked back to the computer, “No… no I need to stop it, I can’t do this now. L-let’s just keep reading Gladion, I can hold out a little longer. We have to find out more, now.”  
Gladion removed his hand and gave her a worried look, Wicke sounded like she was just barely keeping it together and really so was he.  
A part of him wanted to scream for no apparent reason up at the sky right now or even kick something until he broke the bones in his foot, but she was right they needed to learn more, there were still two more documents to go.  
Breaking down could wait.  
“Okay,” he replied uneasily.  
Wicke continued on, clicking on the second to last document, BB Pain Relief.  
Just by reading the first sentence Gladion could tell it wasn’t written by Malachite or Archer and had a more guilty and horrified tone to it with a few sarcastic comments in every paragraph or two.  
Franchesca then, she may have been directly involved, but she must have been the first person to try and help him.  
She had said she was the leader or More mentioned it.  
In the document, the woman had made him a very strong dose of pain relief medicine all by herself and to the sound of it only got a little help later on from someone named only STD.  
Very funny Franchesca, he thought with a sigh, only having a few ideas who the person was.  
Reganold maybe… He swore he heard Franchesca call him that once after he catcalled her with a series of clicking sounds for the third time that day.  
The redhead really must have really been desperate for help to get him involved, he was so gross and horrible to her just because the woman apparently didn't want to have sex with him and always huge pervert to towards really all the women of the foundations and didn’t even try to hide it.  
Other than that there wasn’t all too much to read in this document just how exactly she made the pain relief and how big of a dose to give him.  
The dose was big as well, enough to probably made Faba woozy, but it was stated they were badly needed to help him.  
Faba didn’t have those pain killers now, so just how much pain was he in at the moment with just the ones Lillie gave him?  
Hopefully not too much.  
The document then spoke a little more of needing other people to help her do more and the woman's determination to do everything she could to help Faba listing names that were obviously coded names for the pepole she was thinking about trying to recruit, The Flame, Eraser Eatter, Bitch Ass Mother Fucker, Goddie Goddue, Come Out Of The Closet We All Fucking Know, That One Shy Gal and Day Time.  
And with that the document ended leaving only one more, Antidote for BB into BM.  
Wicke didn’t hesitate to click on it, reading most of it so quickly that Gladion didn’t get the chance to read a good portion of it himself.  
“A-a cure! They made a cure for him!” Wicke said a little too hopefully and continued to scroll down the page that looked far too short to be a cure to reverse the complexity of what the serum did to Faba’s body and mind.  
Gladion wished he could feel a little hopeful, Faba had some of his nature after all, but the little he got to read wasn’t the most reassuring as this ‘cure’ sounded experimental and it wasn’t very descript or clear on how exactly it was scientifically able to work as the other documents had.  
The few parts that did go into tiny amounts of deals sounded unsure and hesitant.  
As if they were unsure if it would really do what it was made to do or not.  
The purpled haired woman beside him either didn’t notice this or didn’t care as she smiled, “Oh thank goodness! They’re going to turn him back to normal soon! He’s going to be just fine!! I-It will be like none of this ever happened!”  
Gladion’s gut twisted at just how desperate she sounded, “I don’t know about that… even if it does miraculously change him all the way back physically… do you really think he’s going to be completely fine mentally without anything wrong with him at all?!”  
Wicke’s smile twitched, “I’m sure his mentally will be restored Gladion! The document said it’s going to make his thought process that of humans again!”  
“No, that’s not the problem! How do you think he’s going to deal with the fact that he was basically tortured for months on end with a human’s mind and not a beast's mind when he was a lot less aware of what the hell was going on?! That’s nothing you can just walk away from Wicke! Even with his human mentality he’s still probably going to be pretty messed up in the head! Especially with all that dehumanizing treatment! They treated him like a Pokémon for months!! Ingraining that’s what he is into his brain. He might still act like a damn wild Pokemon even in human form just because that’s what he’s been taught!”  
The woman’s lip trembled, but still, no tears fell, “Maybe, but It might not be as bad as you think! I know can help him out of it. Franchesca...” anger slipped into her voice for a moment, “we can ask her tomorrow! She’ll know! She has to know! She’ll tell us that he’ll be fine then give us the cure so we can change him back! It might take some time and lots of therapy, but he’ll be okay! I’m sure of it!”  
Wicke said that... her eyes wide with so much desperation where she almost looked crazed, but there was no spark, no real light at all in her eyes at all, there was no real hope in them.  
Wicke was dreading the worst but was forcing herself to believe he might be okay, to stop herself from completely breaking down at this very second.  
He didn’t want to push her anymore on this specific subject, not when she was this unstable anyway and gave his best annoyed huff he could muster, “What I don’t get about all this is why they hell Franchesca and the rest of them haven’t tried to call international police or something like that this is serious shit and if they were in the process of making a cure for Faba why did they make Daymond help him escape!? Wouldn’t they need him at the Foundation to give him this damn cure?! It doesn’t make sense.”  
“I don’t know. We can ask Francesca that as well, but for now, I think we’ve spent more than enough time here. We should be getting back to Hau’s place before he drags the Professors into this. We would have to show them the video and they... don’t need to see that. No one should ever see it.”  
“But,” Gladion started, “Our time isn’t up all the way! I think we should look over the documents more and-”  
“Gladion.” the woman interrupted him, “I know that’s important, but I need to see him.”  
The blond child opened his mouth, but after a moment closed it, with anyone else in any other situation he would have argued further, but with Wicke, especially with how she was now he decided he could just re-read the documents later.  
He didn’t want to read the sick things all over again right now anyway.  
“Okay Wicke.” he sighed and closed the laptop, standing up and tucking the thing under his arm, “let’s go see Faba,” He told her, even if he wanted to do the opposite.  
The woman said nothing in reply, just quickly started out the door to go and see what was left of her dear friend.  
~  
Wicke understandingly wasn’t too talkative during their walk back, not replying even once whenever Gladion attempted to speak with her.  
He could tell she was still barely holding it together, definitely even closer to breaking now by the haunted look in her eyes and the way she continued to tremble.  
Gladion himself still felt extremely nauseous and sick, he guessed he was still in some kind of shock from the transformation he witnessed.  
There had been so much blood and screaming.  
Faba had been in so much pain that his mother and Malachite caused just for the hell of it.  
They had even been electrocuting him for fuck's sake!!  
He felt so numb, that the man he once thought was so kind and righteous was really capable of doing something like that.  
Malachite really hated Faba, that was clearer than the Alolan ocean but Gladion didn’t know he was this malicious to do this to another person!  
This was so much more than hating or disliking, It was something so much stronger and more dangerous.  
It was pure unchecked rage, to an insane degree.  
He almost didn’t want to believe it like Wicke, especially concurring his mother’s direct orders for her Branch Chief to do all this to Faba in the first place.  
She was his mother for Arceus sake!  
He could fully believe she would hurt an Ultra Beast, even hurt Daymond for no real reason, but she had given Faba a fate much worse than death.  
Stripping him of everything that made Faba, Faba and hurt him even more afterward as if just doing that wasn’t enough.  
Torturing, she had been torturing him, anyone could go insane from pain that intense for so long.  
Hell, experiencing that transformation would make anyone go insane.  
The boy’s nausea got worse, and he gagged again the visions of the man withering pathetically on the floor, his body bending in ways they definitely shouldn’t flashed in front of his eyes.  
Faba’s pleas for help and sobs of pain repeating themselves in his head.  
To see him like that... Gladion was beyond horrified even if these were just flashes, but deep down a very tiny part of himself that he had been trying to push away the fact that was ever so slightly amused.  
Faba had become an experiment himself and had been abused like he had abused the Pokémon he experimented on.  
It was karma in a way that this had happened to him.  
Gladion’s eyes widened at thinking these things, the disgust at himself becoming overwhelming, leaning on the palm tree to his left and throwing up.  
Wicke continued walking for a few steps, but stopped and turned back around at the sound of his gagging and hurried over to him.  
“Gladion,” she whispered in concern and rubbed his back, “I’m so sorry you had to see that.”  
“Me too,” Gladion managed to get out soon as he stopped vomiting, still gagging slightly when Wicke gently brushed his hair behind his ears.  
“If they don’t give us a good damn exclamation for why the hell they haven’t contracted some kind of police force, we need to tell them! We have proof that we can show them! We can’t let her get away from something like this!”  
The purple-haired women’s hands shook, “Of course we will. I won’t let Malachite or anyone else in the foundation get away with this. They're going to regret everything they did to him.”  
Gladion shuttered, there was something dark and cold about her voice that made more chills go up and down his spine even if he agreed with her.  
She was right, they needed to be stopped, for good this time not just left on pause.  
His mother and Aether Paradise as a whole had gotten away with way too much in the past and this was the million pound cherry on top.  
He was going to try and take over again, permanently and make sure no person or Pokemon was hurt by the foundations ever again and undo the colossal damage his mother did.  
Sort out the corruption and make things better for everyone working there.  
Make Aether what it was supposed to be, what it used to be when was father was president.  
He continued to lean on the tree, these thoughts calming him down as he took a few deep breaths in and out, thankful for Wicke being there, rubbing his back.  
“Okay I think I’m done, let’s go, the house is right over there.”  
Wicke nodded and removed her hand from Gladion’s back.  
Together they both walked slower than needed, the rest of the way there and knocked on the door.  
Hau opened it almost immediately, letting the two in with a large grin, “You’re back! We were starting to get worried! Were they there!? Did they tell you anything?”  
“T-they” Wicke started, but was cut off by a joy-filled shirk as Emerald… no Faba darted away from the couch beside Lillie and over to Wicke his tail wagging from side to side.  
That… that was Faba.  
That thing was really Faba.  
The blue eyes and little tuft of blond fur on his chin made all too much sense now.  
It was really the only physical hint of who he used to be as a human  
To think this beast was really Faba the whole damn time...  
The blond boy looked over to Wicke his stomach doing somersaults as the women slowly approached the creature that used to be her friend on shaking legs.  
“F-Faba? It that really you my friend?” she whispered, despite knowing the horrific answer, tears starting to finally break free from her eyes.  
“I..ii..kkieee.ee?” Faba croaked with a confused cock of his head.  
Gladion felt like a bodybuilder punched him square in the gut as he finally realized what exactly Faba was saying.  
He had just thought he was just making noises even If he had known he could speak a few words, but the whole time the noise he had been repeating to them, was actually him trying to say Wicke’s name.  
Wicke realized the same thing and gasped, “My name? Faba did you say my name!? That means you remember me right?! You recognized me too, so you must remember me right?! Y-you have to remember me, please Faba!”  
The abomination of a creature only blinked up at her, puzzled by her tears.  
“Wicke... I don’t think he remembers much of anything before mother turned him into that. I think it’s just him knowing that you feel familiar to him and him feeling certain things towards people, do you not remember reading anything in the documents? He doesn’t remember us,” He told her softly, unable to look into her eyes once again and stared at the floor instead.  
It hurt him seeing her like this.  
Just a few hours ago she was confident and held so much determination in her eyes to find her friend find out what 'Emerald’ really was and help him.  
Now all of that was gone, replaced with a broken desperation.  
“B-but! You can’t just can’t forget! We’ve known each other for almost twelve years now! I know what the documents said, but Lusamine can’t make you forget about me, about us, please Faba, please! She can’t!” she cried, shaking her head and quickly shoved her hand in her pocket, “I-I know, look! I can show you! That will make you remember something! Right?”  
Wicke fumbled for a moment before pulling her phone out, turning it on then shoving it in Faba’s face to show him her lock screen of her and Faba together.  
The two of them looked happy together, a smile Gladion had only seen a few times on his usual sneering face.  
“See! That’s you Faba! You and me! It took me forever to finally get a photo of you actually smiling!”  
Faba only cocked his head to the other side and stared at himself.  
Wicke quickly opened her phone and went to her photos, growing more desperate as she showed the twisted experiment another photo, this one on a beach setting.  
“Look, remember that day!? It took me weeks to convince you to take a day off at the beach! You got that weird sunburn on your face because of your visors and complained about it for weeks! Remember that!?  
Faba shook his scaly head and looked up to the women, not having a clue what she was talking about.  
“No… no please no… um how about... how about this!?” she cried, using her other hand to wipe away her tears, Gladion watching in sadness as she scrolled through her phone and showed him yet another photo.  
Gladion couldn’t help but pity her, something he rarely did.  
Deep down hopping at least a little that maybe there would be a chance he showed some sign of remembering for Wicke’s sake.  
In the next photo, they both looked a good deal younger, Wicke’s hair was down to her shoulders with a very new Assistant Branch Chief uniform on her, Faba stood right by her side, looking very proud.  
“Please! You have to remember this! You just made me your assistant! You said you would never forget that day, remember!? Remember?”  
Faba whimpered, no recollection at all in his eyes as he stared blankly at the photo, then looked away from it and nudged her leg, “I..I..kkkk..ie?”  
“No… Please Arcrus no. This can’t be. This is so wrong! Y-you don’t remember anything! She took it from you! That monster took it all from you!!” she screamed, falling to her knees as her legs gave out beneath her, crying into her hands.  
Faba whined, and sat down in front of her and whimpered softly.  
Gladion was just about to try and say something to the women to calm her down, when Faba hesitantly, as if he didn’t entirely understand what to do, moved his front legs around her back, using his back legs to keep himself steady as he leaned on Wicke for further support.  
The blond boy’s brow furrowed in confusion before realizing Faba was trying to hug her.  
It was then, what little composure Wicke had completely shattered, dropping her phone and tightly returning Faba’s hug, violent gasping sobs escaping her mouth that Gladion had only heard his mother make after father had died.  
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Faba!” she said between her sobs, “I should have known something was wrong when you didn’t call back! I should have done more to persuade you to leave sooner! If I just tried harder you wouldn’t have...”  
“H..h..o..h..ohhh.” Faba uttered, then whined and flicked his tail in frustration, “uuu..uuhh..k”  
“F-Faba what is it? Are you trying to say something!? Did you remember anything!?” Wicke asked him hopefully, with a few sniffs.  
“Ohu..o.oo..k? Oh..ki i..kkkie.”  
Gladion’s chest clenched, It sounded like Faba was telling Wicke it was okay.  
It would make sense, Wicke and Lillie told the creature the same thing when he was upset and now what Wicke herself was the one who was distressed Faba was telling her the same thing.  
“Ou..oh..k..o..k. Ok, ikkkkiieee!” The experiment crooked, leaning his head against the side of her face and moving one of his clawed hands in a rubbing motion.  
Both at the motion and the words, Wicke pulled Faba even close to him, cradling him now like a child and somehow sobbing even harder than before.  
Gladion rubbed his eyes, his sickness coming back at full force.  
Poor Wicke.  
He may not be able to feel entirely bad for the situation for Faba, at least as much as he probably should, but he felt absolutely horrible for the women.  
Faba hardly remembered her.  
It probably felt like her chest was being ripped open.  
“Gladion.” Lillie finally spoke up with an unsettled look on her face along with Hau, “W..what is Ms. Wicke talking about? Why is she calling Emerald, by Mr. Faba’s name?”  
The blond boy tensed, as much as he wanted to keep the twisted truth from his sister, protect her from it, he knew that wasn’t an option.  
“Rose and Franchesca, they gave us a USB drive… they said It would explain everything.” he said, hating how faint and shaky his voice sounded, “there were a few… videos on it and on one of them, Mother… she stabbed Faba with something and then he… he turned into Emerald.”  
The silence following his words was painful, lasting literal minutes until Hau let out a high pitched, “WHAT!?” and violently flinched back.  
An action that would have been comical in any other situation.  
“Gladion you can’t be serious...” his sister whispered.  
“I'M SERIOUS!” Gladion snapped, a waver audible in his voice, “I wish it wasn’t!! I wish none of this was real and it was another nightmare or that this is all some fucked up trick or prank, but no one can fake screams or noise like that! It was real!”  
Both the friend’s eyes widened, “No... mother wouldn’t! She won’t do anything like that! Doing something like that can’t even be possible!” the girl exclaimed and quickly turned her head to Faba, “Emerald, you’re not Mr. Faba are you? You’re just a cute little Ultra Beast! One who's just lost and needs to find his way home that needs help! There’s no way you’re Mr. Faba… right?” she said with a strained voice, not wanting to believe what she just heard come from her brother's mouth.  
As he normally did when someone said his real name, Faba instantly looked at her, in acknowledgment.  
“O..oh… Emerald, you always turn when we said his...his name you really are... I… I think I’m going to vomit.” She stuttered, her face turning an ugly shade of green before the girl made a dash for the restroom, the sounds of her being sick soon following.  
Gladion’s gut twisted, he had hoped Lillie would never go through something like this in her, she had been through enugh in her life already and yet hear they fucking were  
“He… was screaming? Whatever Mrs. Lusamine stabbed him with, it hurt didn’t it?” Hau asked softly, turning green as well, his expression similar to a Rockfuff who just got told they weren’t a good boy.  
“Yes, Hau, of course, it hurt him! It hurt him a lot!” Gladion snarled.  
The other boy stared at him for a moment, a truly horrified look on his face.  
“Really?! It hurt him that bad!?” He yelled, then his eyes suddenly became even wider, “Wait… and if Mr. Faba was the Ultra Beast the whole time… that means Grandfather and the other were hunting a person! They hurt him! T-they were all going to kill him without realizing who they were actually hunting!”  
Gladion glanced nervously to Wicke, but luckily she was too caught up in her hysterical crying to pay too much attention to what Hau was yammering on about.  
That was good at least, Wicke didn’t need anything else like this on her mind right now.  
“It’s not like they could have known the creature they were chasing after was really Aether’s Branch Chief,” he told Hau and led him to the couches and away from Wicke and Faba to give them at least some kind of privacy together, sitting down and putting the laptop next to him.  
“We can turn him back though, right!? He doesn’t remember now, but he will won’t he?! He’s going to be okay, isn’t he?!”  
Gladion sighed heavily and grabbed his wrist, “Franchesca, Rose and a group they formed supposedly made him some kind of cure to undo this, but it wasn’t exactly detailed about how they’d do it and realistically, after everything I don’t think there’s really a chance he kept his sanity,” he said solemnly.  
“Oh… well, are we at least changing him back soon then!? We really won’t know how bad he’ll be until the employees make him human again!”  
“I don’t know. It didn’t say if this cure stuff was finished being made or not. Franchesca said she was going to meet us again tomorrow, so we can make her tell us then,” he said curling up his fingers.  
Hau looked down at his lap, “This is… really horrible,” he mumbled, “no not just horrible, it’s evil! Why would Mrs. Lusamine do something like this to him!? He was her Branch Chief! They seemed to get along okay!”  
Gladion snorted, nearly laughing at the rather innocent statement.  
Got along… sure they worked together, and their bound was deep, but not in a good way.  
Their ‘getting along’ was for public image alone, he had seen the way they argued, had seen his mother hurting him a few times and knew there was probably a lot more violence going on between them that he didn’t see.  
The two were so toxic together and brought out the worst in each other.  
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think it's because he was friends with my father before he disappeared. Do you remember why she was so attached to the Nihilo? Well, I think she’s attached to Faba for the same reason. That serum stuff even had some of the Nihilo’s poison in it! I think she wanted to make Faba into some kind of ultra beat like those and since he has that connection to my father like them… I guess in a way it made her feel even closer to him than those damn jellyfish.”  
Hau shuttered, “Mrs. Lusamine is really sick, isn’t she?”  
“That wasn’t obvious from the last time we ran into her? ” Gladion asked bitterly.  
The Alolan didn’t reply to that.  
Gladion suddenly froze as he began to hear slow footsteps approach as his sister exited the restroom and sat next to Hau before the two could talk about anything else, pulling her knees up to her chest, Snowy now in her arms as the little ice type licked her tears away.  
Lillie was a close second for taking this the hardest.  
Which was fair, she had been the one to find Faba covered in injuries no less.  
She had grown to like the poor bastard and took care of him for weeks on end.  
His sister had witnessed him rip at his scales and cower in terror.  
Protected him from people and Pokémon who tried to attack him.  
Including him and Silvally.  
He had attacked Faba, had the intention to kill him on the stop.  
It made sense now, why there was so much rage in his eyes and why the creature disliked him so much from the start.  
For a split second the blond was angry, out of all things, why did that stick?!  
He didn’t even seem to remember his name completely, but he remembered hating him?!  
Maybe not all was lost in Faba, he was still a fucking bastard.  
Even like this, he hated him for no damn reason.  
Despite his change in appearance, nothing had changed between them.  
“It makes sense,” was the first thing Lillie whispered to them, her voice muffled by her Vulpix’s fur  
“I don’t want it to, but It makes sense. Why he was called the Fabeast, How he knew about the type disks, how he knew Miss. Wicke, how he knew how to pick up cards and open stuff… and why he acted so human all the time and knew how to read and liked the Hypno plush and the…”  
Lillie choked on a sob and hugged the Vulpix tight, “the..the mug! The mug must have been his! I knew it looked familiar!!”  
Gladion’s eyes widened, “You had his mug in the cave!? That must have been how Malachite knew we had him! I had a feeling it was Tauros shit when he said they scanned his blood! And I didn’t tell you but, a few days ago I asked Faba what he was and he just told me he was wrong! He might not remember being human, but he definitely knows something off with him,” he told them, the memory now holding a much more disturbing tone.  
That must have been why he panicked so much at the question too. Faba was very distressed over this deep wrongness he felt.  
“That must have been why he was scratching himself.” Hau said meekly, “He was trying to get his scales off because deep down he must have known they weren’t supposed to be there.”  
Gladion shuddered a bit that Faba would even go as far as to almost ending himself to correct those ‘mistakes.’  
To make the wrongness he felt go away.  
Lillie trembled were she sat, “Gladion, what was on it?” she whispered to him.  
“On what?”  
Lillie’s head swung toward her as she pulled it out of Snowy’s fur, “The UBS?! What else did they do to him!? Those burns on his neck they're from a shock collar aren’t they?! Mother put a collar on him!”  
Gladion didn’t want to respond.  
Just thinking back to some of the stuff on the document made him want to rush to the bathroom.  
“And the scars and bruises. They cut him open, didn’t they!? And they kicked him!”  
Gladion dug his nails into his arm, not saying a word.  
“GLADION ANSWER ME!” The girl screamed, “What did mother do to him!? What did she do to his mind!? He barely acts anything like himself anymore! Why doesn’t he remember Ms. Wicke?! What horrific things did mother do to him to the point he acted like a scared pokemon?! Is his mind… is he really gone forever?”  
“Shhh! Lillie! Ms. Wicke is still really upset! You don’t want to make it worse!” Hau warned her and scooted closer to where their legs were touching.  
“Vulpix,” Snowy barked softly and licked her cheeks some more.  
“Sorry,” Lillie mured looking to the purple-haired woman who was rocking back and forth with Faba still in her arms, still sobbing her heart out.  
“Gladion, can you... please just tell us?” Lillie said much quieter.  
“We both need to know… especially Lillie. She’s been with him since the start.” Hau added shuffling his feet.  
“Okay fine! Yes to everything! They shocked him! They beat the crap out of him! They cut him open and messed with his organs because they were still in a human position and it made him vomit up fucking blood! And before they did it he was apparently screaming for weeks!” He snarled.  
Saying all this out loud, Gladion could feel overdue tears prick at the corners of his eyes, “and oh Arcus and when he was changing.” he put a hand over his mouth and gagged, “Never mind, I’m not telling you that.” he said quickly.  
Not because he didn’t want to tell them in depth about the man’s grotesque transformation as it would probably make both of them sick, but also because he really didn’t want to think, let alone talk about it.  
The way his mother cradled him as he screamed and pet his hair and referred to him as her beast made him feel ill.  
No matter what form a person may take they are never another person's pet.  
Seeing his expression, Lillie didn’t push him and lowered her head back in Snowy’s fur to try and hide the few stray tears that fell from her eyes.  
“Poor Mr. Faba, he did bad things, but he didn’t deserve this!” Hau cried and rubbed his watering eyes.  
A small, dark part of Gladion thought otherwise.  
Malachite’s treatment of Faba was similar to how the blond treated the Silvallys.  
All his memories had even been erased, like what he knew he had done to the employees who quit.  
He wondered if when they put the collar on Faba he scratched and desperately tried to pull it off just like the Silvally’s did when they got their helmets and bashed their heads against the wall, offal robotic screams now muffled.  
To his own horror deep down he felt slightly amused at the thought.  
Karma, he deserved at least a little bit of all this.  
No, wait what the hell was he thinking?  
Gladion thought he was going to be sick again, keeping his hand over his mouth trying his best to keep his mind away from thinking about things like that.  
It made him feel like more of a horrible person than he already was.  
No one deserves that no matter how much of a dick they were, expect maybe Malachite.  
It was silent again in the house for a long time, or eventually silent as Wickes crying finally quieted each of them caught up in their own horrors with not even Hau pipping up to say anything.  
Eventually, after what felt like hours Gladion finally stood up on shaky legs, pushing his dark thoughts along with all his other emotions far away.  
Enough of this uneasy wallowing...  
They all need to get their heads back in the game!  
Sitting around and whining won’t help anything! If they were to stop Lusamine and get Faba to be a human again now was the time to finally take action.  
They hadn’t eaten all day anyways, even if none of them were hungry they all needed to eat and drink something.  
Wicke especially, she had been crying for a while and was probably close to becoming dehydrated by now.  
“Hey, Wicke?” he said softly walking over to her deciding she looked okay to finally approach as her sobbing had stopped and she instead stared blankly at the wall, still clutching Faba.  
Gladion reached out a hand and carefully touched her shoulder, “I think we should-“  
“DON’T TOUCH HIM!” the woman instantly screamed, making everyone in the room jump as she pulled Faba even closer to her, covering his unnatural body with hers.  
“Don’t touch him! Don’t touch him! Don’t you dare touch him you monster!” she snarled up at him her glasses falling down to her nose, a crazed look evident in her eyes.  
“Wicke calm down! It’s just me! I’m not going to do anything to Faba!”  
Wicke’s eyes fully focused on him, pushing the glasses back up, the snarl quickly falling off her face, “Gladion. Oh, I’m sorry dear.” she said rubbing her forehead and loosening her tight grip on Faba as he whined and squirmed in her grasp, “I guess I must have spaced out. I didn’t mean to yell at you, I apologize.”  
“It’s okay Ms. Wicke.” Lillie murmured although still visibly unsettled, “I think we’re all upset right now.”  
Wicke nodded, wiping away her tears, the woman's face now a red, blotchy mess.  
She still looked so upset and who could blame her?  
The muscles in his arms twitched, should he?  
He rarely ever got them and had only given them a few times in his lifetime, but Wicke looked like she needed one, not just from Faba.  
That hug probably felt beyond weird, with that body of his.  
Before he could decide otherwise he got on his knees and wrapped his arms around the woman, “You shouldn’t worry about it. You don’t deserve to go through any of this. Don’t beat yourself over something as stupid as you snapping at us,” he said softly.  
The women sniffed and hugged him back, it was a tight, warm one that oddly enough made Gladion feel safe and cared about.  
“Ya, Ms. Wicke don’t worry about it!” Lillie agreed and went over to hug them as did Hau after a moment.  
He could feel Faba glare at him snuggling more to Wicke, Lillie, and Snowy with a snort, Lillie flinching when he did.  
Gladion was careful not to get mixed up in the warm, happy feeling and was the first to tear himself away even if he wanted to let it last just a little longer.  
“Ugh enough with the mushy stuff, I think we all need to at least try to eat something before we starve, even if all of us still feel sick. We need the energy for the next emotionally draining moment that's probably going to happen.”  
Wicke looked hesitant, at the insinuation to let go of her friend as everyone else broke away from the hug.  
“Umm, you can stay with Mr. Faba if you want to Ms. Wicke, I can just go cook something small. Professor Burnet has been teaching me recently.”  
“Lillie you don’t have too-”  
“Please, I need to get my mind off a few things. I don’t want to be in the same room with Em... him right now..”  
“Well, alright,” Wicke caved quietly.  
The girl gave Wicke a somewhat forced smile and went off to the kitchen with Snowy on her heels.  
Lillie still looked upset too.  
He was tempted to follow her and try and comfort her as well when Hau noticing the same thing he did and followed her in, “I can help to Lillie!” he called after her.  
Gladion watched them go, knowing his sister was in good hands and turned back to Wicke, “Do you… want to sit on the couch? You’ve been sitting on the floor for awhile your knees are bound to hurt like hell,” He asked her awkwardly.  
“Language Gladion,” she told him weakly nearly making Gladion smile, wiping her eyes with a pink sleeve then picking Faba up with ease.  
“I’m really a mess right now aren’t I?” she asked him softly, sitting down on the couch with Faba on her lap, Faba shifting where only the side of his head was on her lap and curled his body close to her.  
“You think anyone else in your shoes would be handling this better?” he asked sitting on her other side making Faba growl at him and narrow his diamond-shaped eyes.  
“I suppose not, but I’m still the adult Gladion… I don’t want anything else piling up on you children that hasn't already piled up on you. You shouldn’t have to deal with me when I was like that. I’m sorry.”  
“Wicke, you just watched your friend be turned into a monster in the most brutal way possible and read a very detailed report on what those sickos did to him. I think that warrants a breakdown! The rest of us... we never liked him, but you were his friend!”  
“I still shouldn’t be having one in front of any of you, I can’t imagine it was pleasant to watch. I’m the only adult here, I need to act like it.”  
“Better than bottling it up and releasing it by slaughtering everyone in the Foundation that was involved,” Gladion joked darkly.  
The women didn’t laugh but instead, her expression darkened dramatically, like she was considering it.  
“It’s not your fault you know.” the boy started awkwardly, deciding it was best to probably stay away from the topic of murder around her, “Mother, Malachite and the other employees, they did this. Faba’s crazy arrogance is something you couldn’t have controlled to get him to leave the Foundation any sooner unless you went over there yourself and dragged him out by his goatee."  
“I could have gotten him out, but I did nothing. If I really did care I would’ve done what you just told me.” Wicke muttered stubbornly and pat Faba’s scaly head.  
Gladion huffed, “No you couldn’t have, Mother never would have let you in and she wouldn’t let him leave even if he tried doing it sooner. Mother must’ve planned this weeks or even months in advance, so It’s not your fault!”  
Wicke didn’t reply for a moment and looked down at Faba who was purring happily, tail gently wagging, “Still, I should have tried more when I had the chance and now I can’t do anything for him! The best I can do is just hope Franchesca gives us that cure soon and pet him like he’s a Pokémon! It all feels so useless!” she said, sounding close to crying again.  
Gladion frowned and watched Faba rub gently against her hand, he looked so happy around her, it couldn’t all be useless.  
“I don’t know about that, but I think you just being around him and treating him with actual kindness is doing a lot more good than you think”, Gladion told her softly, “He may not remember you, but he definitely recognizes you, so It has to be doing something for him.”  
“It doesn’t feel like it is. I hate just sitting around here until we see… her again and get her to explain more about the cure.”  
“Ya, me too,” Gladion said simply and with that, the two began to play another long game of the waiting game with Wicke mostly murmuring things to Faba while petting his head ever so slowly.  
Gladion silently reminded himself to keep a close eye on Wicke when they went to see Franchesca again, he didn’t want her strangling the women at least before they got the information they needed.  
He didn’t like that look in her eye, especially when she said the redheads now.  
The state she was in now, Wicke might strangle Francesca when they saw her or take a trip to Aether and take his joke all too seriously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *After watching the USB*  
> Gladion: "Woh.. with what we just saw and how messed up ower clothes are now, I guess you can say we're not Faba-less anymore!"  
> Wicke: *violent sobbing*  
> Gladion: "S..sorry was that too far?"


	28. The Unforgivable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gladion talks to or more at Faba and Franchesca really needs a fucking break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos my peoples, I dispose upon you another chapter with sadness and hugs and Franchesca being sassy, that's good too.  
> I love my redhead child, even if she is a bitch.  
> Regarding plot at least, this chapter is pretty important as Franchesca's going to tell our boi's some important planning shit and the story starts to move a little faster and closer to the climax, like relly close they climax is in like three or four chapter and that shit is going to do a doozy to write, it's so fucking long and then there's the epilogue of sorts that's long as hell as well.  
> I'm especially excited to write a certain boi's back story and his mental decline, because... it's fun as hell.  
> Also, a bunch more characters pop up in the next chapter, that will be mentioned in this chapter, their not in it for long, but hey, they're still their man.  
> Anyways, I don't have anything else to say, so I hope ya'll enjoy the chapter and once more apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes or improper grammar.

Gladion rubbed his eyes tiredly, the bright screen of the laptop combined with the darkness of the room giving him a serious headache.  
The boy shifted uncomfortably on his sore behind and stretched his legs out, earning a loud popping sound from both of his knees.  
He had been sitting here for a while, reading all the documents about four more times, hoping to get a better grasp of them or to find something he and Wicke might have missed, but only really succeeded in making himself feel nauseous once again.  
A feeling that he hadn’t been able to shake completely after the first time he watched that damn video...  
Gladion ground and stared up at the ceiling.  
All this… finding out who Emerald was, the documents, Wicke’s little breakdown, it was all so overwhelming.  
After everything that took place with Nebby and the Nilhilego, he had naively thought that was finally the end of things.  
That Lillie was right and all the offal events that transpired would have finally made their mother start to change for the better.  
Oh how wrong they had both been, she had just gotten worse and more deranged.  
‘At least she didn't hurt anyone innocent this time’, a snide voice remarked in his head.  
The boy cringed, he had been thinking things like this all night and deep down, had to admit none of the dark thoughts were completely false in their claims.  
Faba was far from innocent, not after all he did to the Silvally’s and other pokemon he had experimented on.  
Even if it was his job, he could have refused his mother when she demanded him to do such things.  
Could have rebled against her and tried to make the foundations a better place.  
‘It’s not that simple’ another voice said softly, ‘you have to know how bad things would have wound up for him if he ever said no to her.’  
Gladion sneered, so Faba just thought his own safety was worth so much more than the pokemon he was experimenting on then?  
The man was so selfish and... had been experimenting on pokemon for so long and treated all the employees like shit only for him to become an experiment himself at their mercy, how ironic.  
‘It's justice’ the dark voice hissed, that made Gladion sit back up and gag, once again disgusted with his thoughts, especially as a part of him continued to agree with the voice.  
He was still horrified at what his mother had done of course, but for now, at least it was less for Faba’s sake and more for the actual action itself.  
He knew he should feel cripplingly horrible for Faba, but Gladion just couldn’t bring himself too, not entirely.  
He couldn’t just look over and sweep everything the blond had done under the rug.  
Not after all the experiments, he had witnessed him conduct and the things he didn’t do for him and Lillie.  
The familiar click of a pair of four clawed feet was what made the troubled child turn around to see that Faba had somehow managed to get out of the room the rest of the group was sleeping in, instantly starting to glare at Gladion when the abomination spotted him.  
The blond quickly turned away, he didn’t want to look at that thing right now.  
Faba made a huffing noise behind him, not pleased at being ignored his claw clicks getting closer as Gladion could hear him walk around the couch to face him.  
“What do you want? Aren’t you supposed to be with Wicke? She’s going to be upset if she wakes up and realizes you're not there.” He asked not meeting the experiment's eyes.  
The beast just glared at him.  
Gladion grounded his teeth, “Go!” he snapped firmly already losing his patience and pointed back at the door, “leave me alone! Go away! Go away Faba! And don’t look back, your good at that, you stupid bastard!”  
Faba snarled in rage, placing his front claws on the couch and boosting himself to all too human position on his back legs, leaning his head down to snarl directly in his face, large ears flattening to the sides of his scaley head.  
To anyone else, the action would have been threatening, but Gladion wasn’t intimidated at all and couldn’t help, but imagine the human version of this abomination standing in the beast’s place, sneering at him like he always did with his skinny arms crossed and yell something under the lines of; ‘Mr. Gladion how dare you speak to me in such a way! You are a mere child while I am an adult, Aether Paradise’s last life of defense!! Even if you are the president’s son I do not take commands from you! Now apologize to me at once you insolent brat! A child such as you should really learn some respect’  
“Shut up!” The blond snapped at him, hating way this thing despised him for damn no reason just like the human did, “Shut up Faba! Just shut your mouth for once in your fucking life!”  
The twisted experiment flinched but didn’t stop his glaring or growling, stomping one of his clawed feet on the floor in an odd tapping motion.  
Something Faba would tend to do from time to time when he got impatient.  
*tap, tap, tap* the sound of a boot.  
*click, click, click* the sound of claws.  
So many emotions that Gladion had been pushing back pounded their prison making the creaks that were already there grow larger, Gladion ground his teeth and instantly latched on to the anger in it.  
“I hate you..” he growled softly, his voice wavering, “I fucking hate you Faba! Understand?! I hate you!!”  
Faba only continued to glare at him, which only further spiked Gladion’s anger.  
“Hey! Are you even listening to me?! I said I hate you arrogant bastard! You... they're all acting like you’re some poor little victim! Like you’ve never done anything wrong and just because you’re like this now everything bad you did means nothing. I hate it. I hate you, I don’t forgive you for anything you did. I'll never forgive you. Never!”  
‘But he is a victim in a way, not a guiltless victim, but still a victim nonetheless,’ the softer voice hummed quietly.  
The blond boy shook his head at it and gazed directly into Faba’s bright blue eyes.  
He was silent for a moment, “Y.. you don’t even care do you?! That I'm never going to forgive you, because you don't give a shit about me, you never did.. Your lucky I'm even helping you through all this! You know the only reason why I am is because of Wicke right?! She cares about you so much.. she begged you to leave and you fucking didn't. W..Why didn’t you leave you, idiot?” he asked eventually.  
Faba’s glare turned more into a confused look at this.  
“You're not entirely a dumbass Faba, so tell me why did you just stay there, huh? Why the hell didn’t you leave you stubborn bastard!? You knew how mother was!!”  
Faba growled at him again at the insults.  
“Come on! You never do anything but sit on your ass, damn it! It’s always about you and your title! Staying at the foundations like that just to keep it! You never helped the employees for the same damn reason, never helped the pokemon, never... You never helped me and Lillie.”  
That stopped Faba’s growling and glaring completely.  
“I know the only other reason why you stayed is because of him, wasn’t it? So why didn’t you help us? Why didn’t you do anything!? You were his friend Faba! And you just watched and did nothing! Is it because we’re hers too?! I know you never liked mother or us. You always despised in a way… you always gave her the same cold look you give me.”  
Faba whined in confusion and lowered his head slightly.  
Just like with Wicke, It was obvious he didn’t understand what he was talking about.  
No, the boy could only think, traitorous tears prickling at his eyes.  
He quickly rubbed his eyes, No!  
Why the hell was he crying!?  
He already knew Faba had lost the majority of his mind and memories, even had to convince Wicke and the other about it, so why was he questioning Faba about this shit?  
The thought only flickered across his mind for a moment as Gladion too reliant on his anger to listen to it.  
“I'm not like her! I'm nothing like her!” he continued to babble, “you’re so blind if you think like that! You only see what you want to! You know it’s true! The way you looked at us, talked to us… we’re still Mohn’s children no matter what you think, you have to know we’re part of him too! You can’t deny it forever!”  
The beast blinked at him, his ears twitching slightly.  
Gladion was getting desperate, what for, he didn’t know.  
He just wanted some kind of reaction.  
Any kind of reaction at all.  
Wicke couldn’t get anything out of him, but maybe because of their mutual hatred for each other, he could.  
It was odd, he didn’t even know why he wanted a reaction from the creature so much.  
To force him to show some remorse for once in his life?  
To show any kind of regret for never helping him?  
Faba you coward, why did you help me when I needed you?  
Gladion clenched his fists, he could remember a white lab coat walking away from him once again, tense but unflinching as Gladion was dragged away by his mother, her nails digging deep into his skin.  
Calling out a name that the blond child hadn’t called him in several years, and only did before because Faba hated it when Gladion did so and because his father always wanted him to, Faba was like his brother after all.  
Gladion’s face twisted maybe the name would make him have a damn reaction.  
The boy leaned forward to be closer Faba's maw, with the scaly beast cringing back slightly, “We’re his kids! Were his kids to Faba! He loved us like he loved you! Just admit we’re a part of him! You know it's true! Admit it! Just admit it… Un-Uncle Faba!” he snarked spitting out the old name like the hottest, most bitter of fire on his tongue.  
Gladion didn’t know what he expected the abomination to do at the name, growl again, sneer maybe? Have something in his eyes flash, but there was none of that from Faba.  
The ugly beast only flinched again, probably because of how loud he was being and not because of the name he called him.  
There was really nothing there.  
Fucking nothing and he wasn't surprised in the slightest...  
The boy’s emotions bubbled over the surface and before he could try and stop them, Gladion could feel something wet start to roll down his cheeks.  
He was crying.  
For Faba.  
Why was he crying for Faba?!  
Was it for the fact that so little of him truely did remain or for the loss of something that deep within him, Gladion always wanted, but never truly had?  
“I..I hate you,” he said trying with all his power to force back his emotions and the sobs that desperately wanted free as the unwanted tears continued to fall from his eyes.  
“I.. hate you. I hate you.. I hate you Faba! You and he were basically family! You said so yourself! I fucking hate you, you heartless bastard! She was hurting us! Hurting me and you just looked the other fucking way! You let her hurt us! What the hell would my father, would Mohn think of you now you fucking-”  
The distressed child stopped abruptly as the ‘man’ he hated for so long, his father’s brother, just as he had with Wicke clumsily wrapped his front legs around him in a small hug.  
“S..S..oruhrrhhh.. Oh..ukkk.. Sorr..uhhh.. Sorchrhh.. Sorr.ehh,” Faba cocked with a whine, the very human emotion of guilt present in his eyes.  
Gladion knew the apology wasn’t for the reason he wanted, the confusion all over his face proved that.  
Faba didn’t remember shit, didn’t remember the sins he committed, didn’t remember anything Gladion was yelling at him for and didn’t remember his father.  
He was probably just apologizing for something as simple as growling and snarling at him, Faba probably just felt bad for seeing him cry so pathetically.  
The creature hated him, yet still tried to comfort him when he cried?  
“Stop,” the boy choked out but didn’t push him away, “You're not supposed to be doing this! saying sorry.. hugging me! You hate me! So stop it! Y..Your only fucking doing this because you don’t remember anything! You don’t remember me! You never cared about me at all!”  
“S..soueh..w..w..ronu..ng I..I w..eongggggg. Su..suh..rrr.hh I.. Suh..urhh,” Faba groaned, his back legs scrambling on the couch to hug him better, thus knocking the laptop off Gladion’s lap and off to the side.  
The boy didn’t hug him back, he felt like such an ass now.  
Faba the human, he deserved to be yelled and screamed accusations at, but this poor creature?  
A thing that didn’t even seem to remember his own damn name completely, let alone the specific parts of his past with Gladion.  
He had only yelled at Faba’s shell, If even that much.  
Even with the few things that had stuck, this thing wasn’t Faba, not anymore.  
The guilt, the sadness of both these things only made him cry harder, finally letting out all the emotion he had pent up after watching that horrible video with Wicke in the scaly arms of Faba as the creature that used to be a man told the boy he was sorry over and over again.  
And after a little while, Gladion finally hugged Faba back.  
~  
“Come on Faba you can do It! F..a..b...a. Faba! That’s you, that's your name! Can you say that for me? Can you try and say your name please?” Wicke asked her friend, the best smile she could manage and pointed a finger at him.  
Faba’s tail twitched and he made a small gurgle in the back of his throat, “I.kkk.iiiee?” he asked and pointed a claw at her then pointed to himself and paused with a confused whine.  
“Faba.. your name is Faba, a..and that’s Hou, Lillie, and Gladion. Can you say any of those?” Wicke said softly and pointed to each of them.  
“You might want to start off with simpler words Wicke..” Gladion told the women watching as Faba’s gaze switched between them, “Yes’s and no’s and all that before names... It would probably be easier on him and his throat..”  
“Or even syllables! We can start with F, so he can say his name like you want him to Miss. Wicke!” Hou said with a weak smile.  
In the corner of the room, Lillie stayed oddly quiet, she had from the moment all of them work up really.  
Not even looking at Faba or even teasing Gladion or remarking him and Faba were cute when the rest of the group found him and the abomination asleep on the couch together that morning.  
It was a little worrying to the blond boy.  
In all honesty, it was fair his sister found Faba so hard to look at, he was surprised Wicke was managing to go as far as pet him without even flinching.  
It was still so strange to think his sister had been taking care of him all that time..  
Faba looked over to his sister and whined softly, “Iuhh..I..I.illlehhhh?” he struggled harshly.  
Lillie violently flinched, at the off sounding crock of her name, turning even more away from him and pulling a nearby blanket over her head.  
Gladion frowned, even more, worried about his sister meeting Hou’s eyes and motioned at the distressed girl with a small turn of his head.  
It took a moment, but the boy caught his hint, jumping up from where he was sat and going over to the girl.  
Gladion sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall as Wicke ruffled Faba’s ear’s with a concerned glance his sister’s way.  
“It’s about that time… I know you don’t want to leave him Wicke, but we’ve probably been sitting around here for too long anyway.. Franchesca is probably waiting for us by now,” the blond boy felt the need to point again.  
Really, he understood why the woman was hesitant to leave as was he, but they needed to talk to the sassy redhead again.  
The purple-haired woman didn’t look too happy and gave Faba and Lillie another worried glance, “Right… of course you’re right Gladion. Lillie, Hou are you it’s okay to leave you two with Faba? Gladion could always stay behind..”  
Gladion quickly turned to the Wicke, face twisting about to protest.  
Wicke definitely didn't need to go see Franchesca alone.  
“N..No Miss. Wicke, I’ll be fine.. You and Gladion need to go talk to Miss. Franchesca..” Lillie spoke up before Gladion could himself could say anything.  
Faba’s head twitched to her at her voice, “L..uh..ii.lllll..uh..?” Faba whined at his sister.  
The girl flinched again and Hou sat down close to her and gave her a hesitant hug.  
“Are you sure dear?” Wicke asked her softly.  
“Y..Ya.. I have Hou, so I’ll be just fine..”  
The Alolan’s face lips pulled into a small smile and tightened his hug, “We can do whatever you want Lillie! Even just sit around!” he told her.  
Lillie just nodded softly at this and leaned closer to him.  
“Let’s go, Wicke..” Gladion said to the woman and gently pulled at her sleeve.  
Hopefully, his sister would be fine..  
She just needed more time to take this all in.  
The woman swallowed and nodded pulling Faba into yet another hug, “Bye Faba, I have to go now, but I’ll be back as soon as I can!”  
Faba purred softly and quickly hugged her back as the blond boy put his door on the door handle and tapped his foot, wanting to hurry up and get going and talk to Franchesca again.  
After about a minute of hugging Wicke finally let go, “Take good care of him for me, okay?” She asked Lillie and Hou.  
“Will do Miss. Wicke!” Hou agreed, “I can even let Pancake out again and he and Mr.Faba can play with each other!”  
“That sounds nice Hou,” Wicke mumbled as Faba whined ay being released, looking up at the woman with large, sad eyes.  
“Please..don’t look at me like that..” Wicke sighed and tenderly touched the side of his muzzle which Faba leaned into with a gurgle, “I’m going to come back, I promise, just stay here with Hou and Lillie.”  
Lillie shuttered a little under her cocoon but still said nothing.  
“Come on Wicke,” Gladion urged.  
Wicke gave Faba’s head one final pat and finally stood up, “Goodbye you two, hopefully, this little chat… with her won’t take long.”  
“See you soon Miss. Wicke!” Hou called as Gladion dragged Wicke out of the house before she could give Faba yet another goodbye as the beast continued to look up at her and quickly closed the door behind them.  
Right behind them, Gladion could hear the abomination start to scratch at the door and whine followed by Hou asking him if he wanted to see his Raichu.  
The woman flinched, but before she could look back Gladion continued to pull the woman away.  
“Wicke he’s going to be fine, quit worrying,” he told her calmly.  
“I know, I just don’t want to leave him again..”  
“That’s understandable..” he grumbled, pausing for a moment before meeting Wicke’s eyes again with a new seriousness, “but on a more serious, Wicke.. When we get there.. I know she was involved and everything, but could you not cripply injure Franchesca when we get there, we kinda need information from her..”  
“Injure her? Gladion I would never do that!” the woman protested.  
Gladion wasn’t so sure if he believed her and based on the slow reaction he wasn’t so sure Wicke did either.  
“They will get the punishment they deserve, all of them will.” He told her.  
The woman exhaled sharply, “They deserve to rot in jail or worse for the rest of their lives, especially if this cure doesn’t make him better..”  
The blond boy eyed her warily at the dark tone, starting to have second thoughts about not trying to get her to stay with Faba.  
Just like Lillie, he was really starting to grow increasingly concerned for the woman…  
Last night before Faba walked in on him, he had even heard her crying softly most the night when she must have thought they were asleep, cursing his mother and Franchesca multiple times.  
It made him hesitate to even speak Franchesca’s name too much around her, it only seemed to add to the ever-growing darkness is her normally bright green eyes.  
She looked downright murders.  
“Umm, Wicke? Another thing... about changing Faba back.. If it all does go according to plan and we make him human again... What are you going to do with him? His parents… I know he doesn’t talk with them.. He used to spend every holiday with my father and us are you...I know you probably don’t want to, but with your job... like with mother are you going to try putting him in a-”  
“No,” Wicke said firmly, “I’m not putting him somewhere like that, especially if you manage to get your mother there! I..I’m not locking him up like Lusamine did to him at the foundations. I’ll take care of him! Like you said before I think just treating how we are now is helping.. the documents even said he wasn’t talking at all when he was trapped there, so we’re at least stirring up something in his head!.”  
“Ya, guess we are..” the boy mumbled.  
“And if we continue treating him like this, he has to get better. Even if it’s only a little, I know there’s still hope for him Gladion! Little by little, we can help him heal, get him to remember..”  
“Don’t get your hopes too high,” Gladion couldn’t help but warn her.  
“He has to remember at least a little over time, anything really..” Wicke said confidently.  
Gladion bit his lip to stop himself from sighing, this again?  
Wicke wasn’t going overboard with her hopes like last time, which was a relief, but Gladion still wasn’t so sure Faba would even recover even a little after everything he had been through.  
He probably wouldn’t ever even get to tease Faba for voluntarily hugging him without the beast getting confused.  
But then again Faba would probably would have remarked back that at least he was mindless when he did it and that Gladion ended up hugged him back.  
“I.. can help you with him if you want.. After this is all over and all.. You’re going to help me with my mother, after all, It’s the least I can do.”  
Wicke looked surprised at this, “no Gladion, you’ve already done as been through so much, asking anything else from you would be selfish on my part.”  
“Don’t forget you have a job,” Gladion said bluntly, “A job where they’re going to start getting annoyed with you for taking too many days off looking after Faba! You’ve been avoiding the subject, but I know you’ve been having money issues and with the person who was lending you money… gone, you can’t stand to miss a payday. Looking after him, rehabilitating him.. It’s going to be hard, believe me, I know. and another thing.. What are you going to do when you’re at work? You can’t exactly leave him alone in your house at lease at first and you know you can’t afford to quit your job!”  
“Gladion we still don’t know if he’ll be that bad off!”  
“Wicke! He was tortured for Arcrus sake! How many times do I have to say that!? It’s going to be bad! Very bad! I know you used to rehabilitate pokemon before you became Faba’s assistant, but humans are different! Do you even have any idea’s yet about how to look after him or are you just continuing to hope for the best!? Because you can’t do that. You need to know how to handle and help him properly!”  
Gladion almost regretted his words as Wicke flinched, “I know that Gladion! I know he’s going to be bad. That… he might not ever act like himself again, but I at least need to have a little hope, just a little. and I know it’s going to be hard and time consuming, but I’ll figure out something eventually, I haven’t exactly had the time to think or resurge about too much after all..”  
“Fair enough, but if It does for all that, you can always ask me for help when you get tight on time. You… don’t have to do this alone,” Gladion replied and rubbed his arm.  
The poor woman was definitely going to need some assistance with her, poor friend and Gladion secretly dreaded it, when he knew the time would probally come.  
Faba’s behavior was off-putting enough when he looked like that and he knew that feeling would become about a million times worse if he was acting the same way in human form.  
Wicke only nodded, quickening her pace dramatically toward the area Franchesca was waiting as they entered the cave.  
A deep rage becoming apparent in her eyes again, that grew stronger with every step they took, that Gladion failed to see, too caught up in his own emotions as the boy stepped out onto the lege, the brightly light of the sunset instantly making Franchesca who was leaning on the nearby tone wall visible.  
The woman oddly was wearing a normal grunt uniform minus the hat with her long reg hair done up in a loose ponytail, looking ever more dead and worn down than the last time they saw her.  
To the point where it looked like, it was just her corpse leaning against that wall that someone had crudely placed there.  
He couldn’t help, but notice the burns again along with some new bruising on the exposed parts of her arms and frowned, “Franchesca..” he started, forcing himself to calm down as the woman's head slowly turned to them, the dark circles under them all too apparent, “we watched your sick little videos, what is wrong with you-”  
The redhead was abruptly slammed hard, into the stone wall before he would even start to talk to her, by none other than Wicke as she darted away from Gladion in a flash to grab the grunt by her throat, the rage making her eyes appear to glow.  
Franchesca’s eyes went wide, caught off guard by the attack, her hands curling up into a pair of dangerous fists as if about to strike Wicke, but with her other hand forced it down and went slack in Wicke’s hands in a gesture of defeat.  
The purple-haired woman’s grip tightened making the Aether employee chock harshly, her voice lowering to a low whisper, “Tell me, Franchesca, did it feel good?”  
Gladion tensed up, too scared to intervene for a moment for the look in Wicke’s eyes alone.  
It reminded him.. of his mother when she got angry.  
“Did it!? Does it feel good to know that your little experiment destroyed him? I want to know.. do you feel any satisfaction knowing that because of you because of the rest of you sick twisted monsters you managed to put my Faba through more pain and suffering than anyone should be allowed to experience!? I know he was harsh to you, I don’t condemn that, but did you even think once about him when you created that damn serum!? What he was going to go through when you did this to him!? I..I might have lost someone I love because of you! He.. barely even recognizes me! How could you be so damn heartless?!”  
Franchesca shuttered in Wickes's grasp and made a sharp gasping noise not even trying to push her away, “Y..Your right! Y..your right okay!?” the woman somehow gasped out, “It’s my fault! I.. we all never meant for any of this to happen! I..I am so sorry! W..We were all retards! I know it doesn’t mean anything by now, But I’m sorry! I’m s..s.so fucking sorry! I promise W..Wicke me and the others have already agreed to turn ourselves in as soon as possible, It’s the least we deserve.. After everything, we’ve done to him. We know we’re not innocent...”  
Wicke grip didn’t loosen and only tightened as Franchesca spluttered some more, unable to speak at all now.  
“Least you deserve.. You're damn right it’s the least you deserve after what you did to him! Even if you're doing all this.. Nothing is going to fix what you did!! Nothing will. Because of you, he's going to be scared forever. Y..you deserve worse.. you all do.”  
“Wicke stop it!” Gladion yelled desperately, “Let Franchesca go!”  
Wicke didn’t seem to hear him a low growl rumbling in her throat as she tightened her grip more, not even a hint mercy in her eyes even as the head didn’t struggle only gasping and choking, her hazel eyes glinting with unshed tears.  
“You took him away from me! Why would you do something like that!? Why would you do that Franchesca!? You.. you're a monster! A heartless twisted monster!” the purple haired woman snarled, her voice tight with anguish. “And monsters like you… deserve nothing, but pain.”  
“WICKE! GET OFF HER!” Gladion screamed for the first time in his life very frightened of the woman as he yanked the arm she held the redhead with, one of the pockets on the grunts uniform begging to shake rapidly.  
Wicke’s head jerked to him, the rage in them making Gladion wince as he took a small step away from her.  
Her anger faded seeing his fear replaced with guilt and the horror of what she had done, of what she was going to do if Gladion hadn’t stopped her.  
The woman let out a shaky breath loosening her grip when a red light became apparent from the redheads pocket a small furry form appearing on the ground who instantly slashed at Wickes's arm.  
That made the women let Franchesca go completely, stumbling back as a very angry looking Sneasel swiped at her again with her long claws.  
“Sne! Sneasel! Sneasel! Sne!” The ice type cried as Wicke quickly backed away her eyes swimming with guilt as she held her bleeding arm.  
“G..Glaze I…..T..t..told you to..to stay..in the..pokeball..” Franchesca gasped, leaning on the wall for support as she struggled to get her breath back.  
“Sne...sel!!!” Glaze huffed, going back over to her trainer and motioned at her, “Sneasel Sneasel sne sne!”  
The redhead didn’t reply for a moment, too occupied with breathing properly again, “I d..did have it und..er control, so shut... up! I didn’t n...eed you popping out and making everything wors..e!”  
“Sne..” the pokemon grumbled, looking a little offended as she tapped her claws on the floor a few times and nudged her leg with her head, “Sneasel Sne? Sn! Sneasel..?”  
“I..know you were just worried, right? Sorry for snapping, everything… just has to go perfectly..” she sighed and patted her pokemon on the head.  
“I’m.. sorry Franchesca,” Wicke mumbled softly, “I don’t know why..I was just.. I’m sorry..”  
Franchesca shook her, and chuckled hoarsely, “It’s okay, really I’ve been through a lot worse. Your grip isn’t nearly as strong as his was.”  
Gladion didn’t know what she meant by that and pulled Wicke a little behind her just in case she tried anything else.  
Then a question of his he knew he asked himself a while back tugged at his mind, and now seemed like the only time he may have to ask it.  
“If you are so guilty about this Francesca then why haven’t you gone to the damn police by now?! you say you will.. but when the hell is that?!” He asked her quickly before Wicke could try and apologize to her again.  
The redhead pat Glaze for a few more seconds sighed, “We… wanted to. We did, but what are we supposed to say to them? Oh! Hello officer! Yes I was just calling to say that a bunch of my coworkers and I turned our boss into a fucking beasy beast! Could you come fucking help us out? Thanks!”  
Wicke’s eyes narrowed again at the return of her famous sarcasm making the redhead visibly flinch, “and.. It’s not like we can just send the international police a video like the one we showed you.. I have a plan on how to contact them or more a specific officer that I trust very soon, like hell I’m sending telling any of the other Tepig’s about this, they're all stupid fuckers. We can trust this one, even if he is an ass. That... and, I know it sounds selfish, but I..we need to be the one to try and fix him, not anyone else. I broke it so it’s just as fair that I fix him or at least try to. It’s what we all want to do.”  
“Snee,” The pokemon said, her eye’s softening as she pat Franchesca’s leg.  
“W..wait fix him?! And on your own too?! But about the cure… Is it really going to make him better then!? Will he remember me?! Will he!?” Wicke asked shakily trying to get closer to the redhead before Gladion pulled her back as the Sneasel narrowed her eyes and hissed.  
“All on your own, I thought you at least had a little outside help... you must have a pretty guilty conscious huh Franchesca?"  
Franchesca flinched again at this and odd emotion flashing in her eyes.  
But anyway.. how the hell is this cure stuff going to ‘fix him’? The last document wasn’t helpful at all when it was talking about it! It said It will make him think correctly again, but mother.. She erased almost all his memories! Is it going to make him remember like he used to?” Gladion added seriously.  
“We’re… hoping he’ll remember everything, but there could also very well be.. Complications both in his mind and.. Body. I would take more time to try and make sure the cure doesn’t have a chance to have any chance of making them, but we don’t want him to stay in that form any longer than he already has. It's just making his mental state worse.”  
“Complications.. What do you mean complications!? What kind of complications Franchesca!?” Wicke asked her voice quickly, raising in pitch.  
Gladon grimaced, oh great.  
It was starting to look like what he and the others had been theorizing about what Faba’s mental state would be all too correct.  
“Well… to start, because Lusamine stuck him full of that monster juice before it was done, we don't think his memories were erased in the first place and more suppressed or buried. Were hoping the cure will.. Dig them out I guess you could say or at the least start to dig them out. Hopefully, that also means all his memories of when he was.. a beast will be buried in return, but we don’t know It could be either way.”  
Wicke sighed and bit her lip only looking slightly revealed at the information.  
A chance, that was better than nothing he guessed, but didn’t make him feel much better about the situation.  
Even if he didn’t end up remembering there was bound to be something left behind in his brain, trauma of some kind.  
He didn’t even want to think about Faba’s possible reaction if they had to tell him what had been done to him.  
“And what about physically?” Gladion asked the woman, “You said there might be physical complications too! Don’t tell me… is there a chance he might have damn leftovers when he was that thing!?” Gladion gasped, feeling more pity for the man than he already did.  
Faba had always been annoyingly proud of his looks along with everything else… and the reality he might be keeping some of the traits when he was a monster..even with the whispers of dark thoughts still in his head didn’t sit well with him.  
It would be a twisted constant reminder carved forever into his brain, that he’ll never be normal again.  
That he wasn't completely human anymore.  
Franchesca noded, “you got it kid… When we do attempt to change him back he might not be all the way… human.”  
“How much?” Wicke asked the grunt, running a hand through her puffy, purple locks, “how much do you think will stay on him!?”  
Franchesca swallowed, and scratched her pokemons head who sniffed softly, “Again, we're not sure… He could be all the way human except a scale or two or it could be as much as him looking more like he is now than a person. We might be able to remove some of it after we change him back, just.. not everything.”  
Gladion could see Wicke’s body tremble.  
He brushed his shoulder against hers, “It’s okay Wicke. We at least know he’ll probably remember you now! Faba’s stubborn, even something as bad as having a bunch of scales won't hold him down for long,” he told her although was really hoping the possible traits would only be a few scales if there were any and Arcrus forbid not a tail or the stingers.  
Wicke nodded, “I’m sure It won’t, not forever... A..are there any more consequences we need to be aware of Franchesca, or.. Please is that all of them?”  
The hazel eyed woman hesitated, definitely not a good sign, looking distraught as she continued to pet Glaze, “There also.. The big issue of the surgeries that got performed on him a few months ago. We can’t exactly just put them back the way they were before we do all this, so… there might be a chance that when we change him back.. It’ll be too much for his insides to take, they'll start to bleed again and this time... It might kill him.”  
“K..Kill him!?” Gladion spluttered.  
“What!? There's a chance he could die if we attempt this!?” followed Wicke anger raising her voice again making the Sneasel’s fur stand on end, “If there’s a chance this is going to kill him then I’m not letting you give this stuff to him until it’s perfected! Even if his mind will get worse… I can’t risk losing him entirely!!”  
“Wicke please, we already have plans to help him right away just in case that does happen, there will probably be medical personnel and there if all goes according to plan and If the plan does flip Reginald… I think he was training to be a doctor before he came to the foundations surprisingly enough... and so we stocked up on medical supplies,” Francesca explained.  
Wicke gashed her teeth, “Your right.. we do need to give this to him, but if this cure kills him… I will personally make sure your life, all your lives are a living hell understood?”  
“Sneeeee!”The Snesel growled at her.  
“Hold on,” Gladion piped up before Franchesca could reply to the threat, “you said there would be medical personnel there… where the hell are you planning to turn him back!? I thought we were just going to do it at the house, or the cave or something!”  
Franchesca rubbed the back of her now bruised neck, “I was saving to tell you this last because I knew neither of you would like it, but the cure… you can’t exactly just stick it in him like the fucking serum. It’s a sort of gas and to be administered. The labs me and my group have been working in, has just what we need to do this properly, so we need to get Faba back to Aether.  
“No way in hell!” Gladion spat as anger flared once again in Wickie’s eyes.  
“We are not taking him back there! Not ever! W..Why on earth did you make him a cure like that after you Mr. Daymond help him escape!?” Wickie added and narrowed her eyes.  
A mix of emotions flashed in Franchesca’s eyes, “Daymond.. was never a part of our group to make the cure. I never told him or even hinted what we were trying to do or that we were helping Faba at all. The guy has been best friends with Malachite for as long as I can remember. I think Malachite even lived with Daymond before the guy dragged him to the Foundations. They were so close, so I… didn’t think I could trust him. I was wrong about Daymond. The guys too good of a person just to let something like that slide, even if he was a coward about it for a while.”  
He was never involved?  
Daymond must have been even more alone than Franchesca then..  
“Oh..” Wicke mumbled, “W..well even if that's so, I’m not taking him anywhere near the foundations! Lusamine and Malachite and who knows how many others will be there!”  
“I second that,” Gladion growled, “we could be ambushed in a heartbeat!”  
Franchesca was starting to look a little annoyed now, “It sounds risky, I know, but I’ve been planning almost non stop and this is the best chance we got. Either you two help us get him to the foundations or Malachite and the others will eventually find you and take him back by force and we change Faba back without you two being around.”  
Gladion scowled at her but had to admit the redhead had a good point.  
Wicke on the other hand, looked like she had taken all that as a threat,”No! I said no! We're not letting anyone from Aether-”  
“Wicke she’s right! We don’t have a choice, but to go through with this.. This is our best opportunity to turn him back, so we need to take it! You don’t entirely trust her, that's fine and all the more reason to go with her! We can even bring reinforcements if the employees try and attack us! We.. just gotta tell them what's going on..”  
By the wall, Franchesca frowned and made a small noise.  
“What are you not going to tell us we can’t bring reinforcements are you?” Gladion asked with a frown.  
“Feel free too, I recommend it actually. We need all the help we can get, you're just going to have to be quick about it because we're planning on taking Faba back to the foundations later tonight or more really early tomarrow..”  
Tonight!? That was way sooner than Gladion could ever hope to guess.  
Too soon almost, he would have at least thought they would have a few days, but tonight!?  
Franchesca really did want this over as soon as possible and definitely had planned way ahead.  
He was almost impressed with her.  
Wicke too looked surprised, “T..That soon? That’s great!”  
“Yup, tonight, we’ve all had this planned for a while now and I don't think we are going to get a better opportunity than tonight. Malachite’s supposed to be going out for some reason and I have a patrol tonight which it’s the perfect time to steal the boat when Archer’s off with the other. I can meet you and all your reinforcements at 2:45AM.  
“Geez, mother must really hate you to put you on all these shifts, especially one so late..” Gladion sniffed.  
Franchesca just snorted and motioned at her grut uniform, “well ya, she hates me. It’s why I was demoted, after all, thanks to stupid Malachite.”  
“Sensel Sne!” Glaze added with a small chuckle and elbowed her trainer's leg to which the redhead just rolled her eyes, “Anyways more on the actual plan, one of my guy’s.. Markus is going to set fire to one of the lesser used lab rooms in the entrance of Aether, so those fuckers will be distracted with that while we go in through the other entrance where the boats are kept.”  
“Y..your setting something on fire?!” Wicke said dumbfoundedly.  
Franchesca gave them a sheepish look as Glaze snickered again, “It’s the best distraction we could think of that would get everyone's attention! Do you have any better ideas?!”  
Neither of them spoke.  
“I’m serious, do you? I can just tell Markus not to set anything on fire when I sort things out with my group... I’m open to suggestions, I don’t want anyone getting hurt when they don’t need to be. Except for Lusamine, she can get her face ripped off for all I care.”  
Gladion put a hand on his chin.  
A distraction… he didn’t think any objects would work all too well, and even if they went with Franchesca’s fire idea, there was still a chance they might be stopped by someone who wasn’t supposed to be worrying about the fire.  
They needed a lot of distractions, ones that would attack the employee's head on.  
Something that would get all the employees to focus on them and of everything else around them.  
They needed people, a lot of people and not just reinforcements.  
A big group of pepole maybe.  
The question was what group of pepole was dumb enugh to be willing to attack a place like Aether.  
A grin suddenly spread across the blond boy's face… oh ya, it was obvious, they probably even had a grudge against Aether after everything that had happened.  
“How about team skull?” he asked.  
“Eeeeexcuse me?” Franchesca drolled, raising an eyebrow as Wicke and the Snesal stared at him like he just suggested they go out and catch Arceus himself.  
“Don’t look at me like that! Just hear me out! Mother used team skull like puppets than just threw them away like trash. They are bound to still be pretty pissed about it, not that I can blame them… they have to be interested in giving Aether some payback, they just need a push..”  
“Those thugs?! But they are uncontrollable!” Wicke protested.  
“All they are is a dama a group of punk ass little shit heads, their worthless when it comes to anything,” Franchesca huffed.  
“It’s a risk I know! But it’s a lot better of an idea than setting a damn fire! Using team skull would probably distract them for a longer anyways and get all the employee’s attention, so even if Faba freaks when we bring him back there we wouldn't have to rush him as much as we would have.”  
“Okay fine whatever! I guess It would make the plan less complicated anyways, now I don't have to go over there and explain shit to the old man.. Just make sure to give Nanu.. I know you know who he is, this while your over by Po town.” The redhead growled and tossed him something that the blond boy caught, “It’s another USB,” she explained and crossed her arms, “don’t explain too much to him just give it to him, it’s going to take a while for him to call anyone, so by the time he gets here hopefully we’ll have Faba back to normal..”  
A USB, so Franchesca was really getting them involved now..  
By what she said early he thought it would be a lot later.  
“Sure thing, I’ll stop by his place after my chat with team skull,” he told her.  
Franchesca didn’t look happy but didn’t protest which didn’t surprise Gladion, he had heard tales from team skull and Aether alike of Franchesca having multiple tussles with them.  
With the older members of team skull ranting about ‘the redhead bitch’ who apparently on more than one occasion had beaten the ever loving shit out of them after they attempted to snag a pokemon.  
It was never anything too extreme just a good number of nasty bruises, but it never failed to amuse Gladion.  
“And I’m guessing you're going to be the one to push them Gladion? Do you want me to come with you?” Wicke asked him with a disapproving frown.  
“I’ll be fine Wicke,” he dismissed her, “Guzma and the others aren't that bad.”  
Glaze broke out into high pitched laughter at this as did Franchesca, a laugh that oddly enough sounded like her pokemons.  
Gladion rolled his eyes and ignored them both, “besides they definitely won't listen to me if you linger outside, you should focus on getting some reinforcements…”  
The purple haired woman just sighed and nodded.  
“Oh and you two, just in case theirs and update or things go south on either side take these,” Franchesca said pausing to pull a pair of walkie talkies out of another one of her many pockets handing them to her Sneasel who scuttled over and promptly threw them at their heads.  
Gladion glared at the stupid ice type and she went back over to her trainer and stuck her tongue out at him and Wicke.  
“A guy..kid his name is Keven your probably familiar with him Wicke.. He’ll inform you if on the off chance plans change and will pick up if you have to tell us anything we need to know, kapeash?”  
Keven.. The teenager?  
Keven, The teen who kept accidentally calling Faba his dad?  
He was only 16 the last time Gladion was at the foundations, he was surprised Franchesca pulled him into this, but then again he was a lot younger than Keven and he was involved.  
“Got it,” the blond boy told them woman and tucked the walkie talkie into his side bag.  
“You're going out now, I’m guessing? To get team skull?” Wicke asked him.  
“I kind of don’t have a choice, It’s going to take a while to take a boat and walk to their trashy little town then take a boat all the way back..”  
Wicke sighed, “very well, just please be careful Gladion, I can’t lose anyone else.”  
“You're not going to lose me!” He protested, trying not to sound annoyed, “team skull are stupid ass wholes, not murders.”  
Franchesca cleared her throat, a more harsh nose than it should be probably thanks to the new bruises, “Are we done? I don’t want the search group I’m in at the moment to get suspicious, but I can probably answer a few more questions if you have any.”  
“No I think we understand just fine.. How about you?” Wicke asked with a glance at Gladion.  
The blond boy only shook his head.  
“But Franchesca... I’m serious if this cure kills him..-”  
“You’ll strangle me to death and break all the others necks with your Beware, got it.” Franchesca said calmly with a large Sneasel like grin as Glaze hissed again at him and Wicke, “It’s fair really, killing me at least.”  
Wickie’s face fell, guilt visible in her green eyes, “goodbye Franchesca,” she told her coldly, “Could you also do me a favor and tell Rose I’m sorry for being so rude to her. She wasn’t involved in any of this, unlike you.”  
“I will, you know... her reaction was similar to yours when we showed her the video. She clobbered me pretty good and almost pulled my arm out of socket with her Meowstic.” Francesca told them softly and touched her still black eye, “anyways I’ll see you and your reinforcements later, I… we really are sorry for everything we’ve done.”  
Anger was apparent once again in Wicke's, yes, but after a glance at Gladion her eyes softly and she quickly turned and stomped out of the cave.  
Gladion lingered for a moment, locking eyes with Franchesca’s sad hazel one’s, “you better not mess this up, we're counting on you.” he said before following behind leaving Franchesca all alone with her Sneael and abundance of inner demons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lusamine: *Scratches Franchesca's face*  
> Rose: *Punches her in the eye*  
> Wicke: *almost fucking strangles her*  
> Franchesca: "haha! You fools this is nothing! I was abused as a child! This is nothing you fucks!"
> 
> ( PS: Gee this poor redhead is sure getting hurt a lot, it's almost like something extremely bad is going to happen to her before this fic ends or something.)


	29. Uprising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lillie learns to deal and Gladion goes to talk with the skulls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos everyone!  
> Before I start with anything I want to give a really big shout out to my friend DeathOfGliter!  
> Not to bully ya'll to read their fic! (which you should totally do by< the way it's good as fuck), but to show you this absolutely, amazing art they made for me!!!  
>   
> 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> It's all so damn good and pretty and amazing!!  
> I love it all so much!!  
> and love her so much for making it and appreciate it so much!!  
> It's just so damn good!  
> Utter Perfection even!!  
> I know I've already thanked her different platform, but I want to thank you so much for making for me!!  
> She even made more art for me than just these great masterpieces, I just thought three was enough for this chapter, I don't want to make anyone pass out from how good her art is, that would be a shame.  
> I nearly did when I first saw it after all.  
> Anyhow look! I typed up another chapter and it didn't take 100 years for once!  
> Yay!! I'll try and get the next one up even quicker, try.  
> It shouldn't take too long as I don't plan it making it all too long of a chapter.  
> The next chapter will also be the one right before the squad arrives at the foundations and shit starts going fucking down.  
> I'm so excited for everything to go down and I'm even more excited for ya'll to read it!  
> There's so much shit and this one since goes down that I've sprinkled hits of happening throughout the fic that hopefully wasn't too obvious of happening..  
> And there you get to see someone's backstory which I'm even more excited for because I lOVE explaining a charters motives and reasonings and all that especially as it has a lot more Daymond!  
> I love writing him and he's such a good boy in all the flashbacks!  
> Like a really good boi, you thought he was good before, but in these, he's an extra good boi!  
> Also this is super random, but It relates to the story, so what the hell.  
> As Valentine's day happened not too long ago my lovely boyfriend hocked me up with an Emerald plushie/ UB Faba plush!  
> I'll be sure to update the next chapter, he's super cute and now he's mine!  
> He will never be a human again like this!  
> Hahahahaha!  
> Anyways... on the actual chapter team skull and the others show up for a bit in this chapter and I'm kind of torn on how I write them and Lillie is forced to interact with the so called ultra beast who was really the bean man.  
> I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter and once again apologize in advance for any spelling errors or improper sentence structure you see!

Deep within her cocoon of blankets, Lillie sniffed, she had finally stopped crying again and had gone back to feeling worn out, raising her head from her knees to rub her puffy eyes.  
Why did this have to happen?  
All this was so terrible and painful for everyone involved, especially Miss. Wicke, who Lillie was surprised had even left Mr. Faba with them and hadn’t stayed at the house instead.  
She almost wished that the women did so, so that… thing wouldn’t be around her and be with the kind woman instead.  
The blond girl didn’t want him here, even at a good distance.  
She would have been completely fine with staying with the beast before they all learned the truth and would have probably tried playing a few games with him and Hou, but now… Lillie felt unnerved with him just being in the house with her.  
She was about to put her face back in her knees when she felt something gently nudge her arm with a small whine.  
Lillie resisted calling out for Hou, not bothering to lift the covers to see who it was, she didn’t need to as she could literally feel the uncanny wrongness through the sheets and violently jerked away from the creature who used to be Branch Chief Faba.  
“No! Emer… M..Mr. Faba stop! Please just go away! I don’t want to look at you when you look like that, It’s so wrong!”  
She could hear the twisted experiment whine again, an offal pokemon like noise only adding to Lillie’s urge to be sick again, especially as he leaned his scaley head down on the couch and tried to peak his beak under the covers.  
Lillie recoiled even further, her back pushing against the couch.  
NO! she didn’t want to look at him!  
Not like that!  
Lillie didn’t want him anywhere near her!  
She just couldn’t handle it, it all felt so wrong on so many levels.  
“Get away from me!” she snapped and shoved him back a lot harder than she meant to, causing the old chief to fall back to the floor with a *bang*.  
She could hear Faba yelp then whine in confusion, “Uhh..ll..LLiii-”  
“GO AWAY! I told you to go away! Y..You’re not right! Your wrong! You’re not supposed to act... Or look like this! Mother… Mother is sick! Just… go away… please just go away, I don’t want to look at you. I don’t want you near me. I just need some time alone… please.”  
“Uhhh I...I..w.wrn..wro..n.nnggg.. L..eh..lihh?” the thing asked her in a low whisper.  
Hearing him say her name again only further upset the girl, “Yes! Yes, you are wrong! very wrong!! NOW GO AWAY! Why are you still here!? W..why did you ever choose to stay around me and not leave when I first found you?! W..were not even friends! We never were! We can’t be friends.. Not after this. Now that I know what.. who you are it just can’t be possible.... Now leave me alone.”  
Faba let out another low whine, “Suh..re..eh,” he grounded out to her before Lillie could hear him walk away from her.  
The blond girl curled back in on her herself with another sob, alone with her thoughts once again.  
She hated the way he was acting, Mr. Faba wasn’t acting at all like himself anymore!  
Gone was his arrogance and stuck up attitude, the closest thing to it had been simmered down to him being picky with food and acting boldly with other pokemon on a few occasions.  
It all hit Lillie so hard, she had found him hurt, alone and starving in a cold, lonely cave.  
Calmed him down when he flinched after he attempted to touch him like an abused pokemon would, patched up his horrible wounds and watched him eat like he hadn’t in multiple years. She had gained his trust and in turn, he had gained hers in a way.  
Everything she had seen him do now was a new level of worse, the nightmares and self mutilation and It was all because of her mother this had been done to him.  
The things her mother had done had already been piling up lately, but this… this wasn’t just the strawberry on the cake, this was the Wailourd on a pile of glass vases.  
Her mother was evil for going this to him and looking at Mr. Faba only reminded her further of what her mother had done.  
How she completely destroyed someone and left behind next to nothing.  
Took his mind, took his body, his personality, everything gone, just like that replaced with the mindset of something that wasn’t human, but merely a shell of what he once was and even then calling him a shell was an understatement.  
Poor, poor Mr. Faba, just what was going on in his maze of a mind?  
He was guaranteed to be in so much unbearable pain, even now.  
Agonizing pain, because of his mother.  
She had hurt him worse than she had hurt anyone before. She could feel more tears roll down her cheeks, and continued to sit there wallowing, anxiously waiting for Miss. Wicke and her brothers return with good news and more importantly get Mr. Faba to leave her alone, waiting for what felt like forever until Hou’s hand gently touched her shoulder. He must be back from grabbing the game from his room then.  
“H..Hey Lillie? What did you say to Mr. Faba? I..I think you really hurt his feelings,” He asked her quietly.  
Lillie let the blankets fall off her and slowly looked up to her friend, “I..I did?”  
She had pushed him… was that it?  
Had she accidentally hurt the poor creature? She hadn’t meant to!  
“I think so.. He ran into Grandfather’s room and hid in his closet! I’ve tried talking to him, but even when I tried giving him those cookies he likes so much, he won’t come out! He just keeps muttering about being wrong, and you being mad at him. I think he was even scratching himself…”  
The blond girl’s chest tightened, had he been that upset over what she said?  
She just didn’t want to look at the experiment, for him to go away and do his own thing, she hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings!  
She shouldn’t have been so harsh with him..  
Mr. Faba already thought he was wrong, to hear a person he trusted yelling such a thing at him must have stung.  
He must have already felt bad enough when Wicke left again and was just looking for comfort and only for her to push him away, and hurt him. “I..I can’t calm him down, Lillie! Please, I think… only you can do it. Miss. Wicke is gone and he’s only getting more upset!”  
Lillie’s face scrunched up as she dug her nails into her arms, “Hou.. I don’t think I can face him yet, not when he looks like that! I..I can’t. I’m sorry. M..maybe I can let Snowy out to calm him down..”  
“Lillie he’s crying and he’s hurting himself! The boy said in an uncharacteristic firm tone of voice, “I.. I don’t like looking at him when he looks like that either, but he doesn’t understand our reasoning! He just thinks you're mad at him because of the way he looks! It’s not fair to him Lillie, so like I said I think you need to at least try to comfort him! Please he needs you right now..”  
The girl swallowed back any more refusal that struggled to come out of her mouth.  
She was being selfish again and only really worrying about how she felt about this and not Mr. Faba’s broken mindset and how treating him would make the creature react.  
She couldn’t just sit here when he was so upset because of something she said.  
She wasn’t her mother, she wasn’t heartless and she most certainly wasn’t going to abandon him when he needed her the most. She was going to help him, even if it made her feel horrible being around him.  
“You said he’s in Hala’s closet?” she asked after a moment.  
Hau nodded, “He wouldn’t even look at me when I tried talking to him and.. Flinched when I touched him. He.. he didn’t even sniff the cookies I tried to give him, I know you’ll do a lot better than me… he trusts you now Lillie..” he told her and held out the all too familiar box of cookies.  
Lillie took it with a word half wondering if the beast ever ate them when he was a human, standing up and walking to Hala’s room.  
It didn’t take long of course even with her slow pace and too soon she was walking in the large room and to the overly large closet that was mostly used for the little storage, Hala had other than clothing.  
The door to the closet was wide open, and deep within it, curled up near a box Lillie could spot a mound of green scales, his stinger poking awkwardly to the sides.  
“Mr.Faba?” she asked, putting the box down and poking her head inside.  
The creature whined at her presence, turning his head away from the corner he was facing with his Hypno plush squished beside him, visible tear streaks down his scaly face.  
“Leh..lehuh..? Wruhu.ruu..ongg.. I W..rronggg s..uhh..suh.re..ehh..” he groaned pathetically at her and nipped hastily at one of his front legs.  
“No, please don’t hurt yourself!” she pleaded and sat down next to him.  
The experiment met her eyes for a moment, before shaking his head, putting his clawed hands on top of his face as if trying to hide it from her view, “nuhh, I..I w..wronn..g wr..onn.gg W..RON..GG!” he whined and began to scratch at his face.  
“Shhh, it’s okay. Don’t.. Please don’t hurt yourself! I..I’m really sorry I said all that to you Mr. Faba and.. For pushing you too, It wasn’t fair of me to treat you like that. It’s not your fault you look and act like how you do. It’s all mother's fault. I was just being selfish again, like when you talked for the first time. I’m sorry about all that.. I really am. I... care about you and I hate seeing you hurt yourself like this.”  
Faba stopped clawing at himself a few tears dripping from his oddly shaped eyes, “muh..uhh.muhdd?” he asked, his body going tense as his claws curled his tail around his plushie.  
Lillie could feel her own eyes start to sting and she moved closer, “I’m not mad at you Mr.Faba. I was never mad at you.. I was more upset with my mother than anything..”  
Faba cocked his head at her.  
“B..but that doesn’t excuse anything I did! You’re the one that should be mad at me! I said so many offal things, I even told you that we weren’t friends. That was.. A horrible thing to say.”  
Faba whimpered again at this, his ears drooping.  
“B..but we are!” she told him quickly, “Even if we weren’t friends before all this happened... Even if you hated me, we can still be friends now! Especially after everything we’ve been through together, we're friends Mr. Faba! And I’m happy to call you a friend!”  
Faba made a happy gurgling noise and bobbed his head in what was probably agreement, his tail slowly starting to thump on the ground.  
“But, A..after we hopefully turn you back, I would understand If you don’t want to be friends with me anymore, and if you do then I’ll try my best to stay by your side and help you for as long as you need! I..I know it’s not my job to fix what mother broke, not anymore, I would be fixing things until the end if I did that, but this is different, I care about you, you’re my friend.”  
The creature just stared at her and cocked his head again.  
He looked confused, all those words must have been to complex for him to grasp in his mindset at the moment.  
It hurt for Lillie to see, but the girl just smiled at him and hesitantly moved a hand toward his head before recoiling it back.  
The girl shuttered and took a long breath, reminding herself again not to be selfish.  
Even if the thought of touching him felt beyond weird and wrong now.  
Then, reaching her hand out again touched his scaly head just as she had dozens of times before, trying not to think about the fact that the scales she was touching used to be his skin.  
The confused look on Faba’s face melted away, smiling now as he pushed his head against her hand.  
This.. this didn’t feel like it was enough for the things she had said to him.  
Just a few pets, that wasn’t much at all compared to what Wicke and even Gladion had done to comfort him.  
He didn't like Mr. Faba and yet had let the experiment sleep on him. Taking another deep breath, before the could decide otherwise Lillie quickly scooped the creature up best she could in a hug.  
The experiment purred loud enough where she could feel the vibrations, very happy with receiving yet another hug from someone, not hesitating even a moment to hug her back.  
They were like this for a while, until Lillie couldn’t take the feeling of holding his human-like yet monstrous body in her arms any longer with his oddly shaped torso and arms and let go. That was something she wasn’t sure would get used to anytime soon.  
Faba didn’t seem to mind this, his tail still swaying as he sniffed at the air, walking over the opening of the closet and returning a few seconds later with the box of cookies she had left there.  
“Oh? Do you want some cookies?” Lillie asked him with a small smile tugging across her lips.  
Some things never changed..  
Faba didn’t reply, putting the box down and opening it with his claws, basically ripping the top of it to shreds in the process.  
Taking one from what was left of the box and holding it out to her with a large grin.  
“Thank you..” Lillie said and graciously took it, despite not feeling hungry.  
Faba gurgled at her, placing one by his Hypno plush as well, patting its head before eating a cookie for himself.  
The blond girl only watched him and toyed with the treat in her hand.  
She could deal with this, even if it still felt odd, she could manage to be around him.  
She just hoped Miss. Wicke and her brother would bring good news for once, something that would help Mr. Faba and get him back to as normal as he could be after everything.  
She could only really do nothing, but hope at this point and nothing more. ~  
Gladion let out an overly loud sigh, leaning back against the seat of the rocky boat as it bounced across the beautiful ocean of Alola.  
He and Wicke had long gone their separate ways of course and Gladion was already a little lonely without someone else there to keep him company.  
Which was odd as he was more than used to being alone.  
Leaving his mind to wander to the territory he was trying to avoid, to last night in particular.  
Faba…he had never been this uncertain thinking about the man, or more creature before.  
He still didn’t exactly like him, but… he couldn’t say he hated him with every fiber of his being either.  
Even with his many, many, many, flaws and the horrible aspects of his personality, Gladion knew there was some good to him, no matter how much he liked to deny and ignore it.  
He didn’t like to think about this good and never had fully until now because it made thinking about the man all the more painful and ended up making him even angrier how things between them wounded up.  
Turing any sliver of admiration into more hate. One of the occasions that he could more vividly remember and didn’t bring overwhelming hate was of the time he had been trying to feed a one legged Pickypeck in the observation area after wiggling away from his mother when he overheard a small group of male visitors making some extremely crude and inappropriate comments at Wicke that they weren’t exactly quiet about.  
Back then Gladion didn’t understand half of what they were yelling at her but knew it was something bad when he saw the woman’s hurt expression and Faba’s enraged one as he appeared out of nowhere yelling as loud at them as he could manage without permanently muting himself that they were ‘disgusting perverts’ and soon after were roughly escorted from the foundations by a few employees and never returned.  
He remembered afterward how the man asked Wicke if she was okay, not even snapping at her when she failed to call him Branch Chief and sounded generally distraught when she told him that she was more than used to men doing and saying that sort of thing around her.  
He could remember the other occasions whenever his mother or an employee mumbled about the Branch Chief being extra cranky again because he stayed up all night doing surgery on a hurt pokemon that he just refused to give up on and was confident he could save himself when the others failed.  
Thinking even further back where memories become blurry he could remember his mother instructing him to bring Faba to her office one of the days following his father’s death and found the man slumped over his desk smelling of sweet alcohol and crying his eyes out, everything was unorganized too with empty bottles littering the floor and a strong nasty scent hanging in the air. It was a sight Gladion rarely ever saw in his office and decided to leave him alone after seeing that, telling his mother the man wasn’t there.  
Not even three weeks later he could remember the fear in Faba’s blue eyes the time he had accidentally walked in on his mother lounging at her Branch Chief for reasons he never learned.  
Grabbing him by the throat and viciously scratching his face like a wild pokemon.  
Roy who was lucky there as well managed to pull her off before the crazed woman gouged his eyes out, and after pretended like everything was fine with the usual stoic mask plastered on his face, but the image stayed in Gladion’s mind for months afterward.  
It was when he first real start mental colipase. When he started to realize something was very wrong with his mother. Gladion hissed silently to himself, not liking how deeply he was looking into Faba’s better side after one simple hug from him.  
It made everything that was happening, hurt so much more and bring up unpleasant memories and even further reasons why he hated the man so much.  
It took him back even further, where even in the very beginning Gladion never liked him.  
The first real memories he even had of the man was the blond constantly trying to drag his father away elsewhere with him when he and Lillie were trying to spend some quality time with him.  
Time and time again turning up his nose to the both of them whenever he and Lillie did as much as look at him funny.  
Thinking back on it now, with an older perspective he swore there was a hint of jealousy flaring in the Faba’s eyes more often than not whenever his father was with them and his mother.  
Had..he been jealous of them? Jealous of the relationship they had? How his father smiled every time his mother giggled in delight as they held hands.  
Mohn was probably the only person Faba had, he probably thought the man was being taken away from him in a way.  
Pity rose in his chest that he quickly shook off, instantly shoving a more negative memory of Faba in his main focus.  
A memory of him hurting one of the Silvallys.  
He felt enough pity for Faba even when he had been thinking about bad memories, time to balance things out and thinking about this always made him pissed.  
He forced himself to recall the chimera’s pain filled cries of misery as a group of employees forced a type disk in their type changer only for them to screech in agony as it melted inside.  
The ways the beasts had been restrained to the ground, to tables and how they thrashed for freedom, the time when one had broken free and had relentlessly thrown itself so hard against the one way glass to try and escape, badly hurting itself in the process.  
With all this though, like revisiting his childhood memories brought maturity to the memories.  
In none of this abuse was Faba laughing maniacally or even smirking watching all this happen to his creation, he always looked, stressed, disappointed, angry and even sad.  
Archer had been the only one laughing so hard, in fact, he became out of breath multiple times, but Faba never had once.  
Wicke had said he never enjoyed what he did to the Silvallys after all.  
And deep down no matter how much he wanted to see the chimeras as completely innocent, he knew no matter how much he tried to block it out of his mind all three of them had buckets of blood on their claws.  
There were one too many occasions of employees being sent to the hospital with severed fingers from a metal beak, slashes from their claws, horrible, burns, and poisonings from the type changer tests.  
There had even been a rumor of an occasion where an employee lost an eye because one of the Silvally’s claws ripped the majority of his face off. He was unsure if this was true or not, but the image of it was terrible. The list of injuries was long and he knew Faba himself even had a few scars.  
He knew they hurt Franchesca and... Roy too, an employee that had always been so kind to him and Lillie.  
His screams especially been so gut churning, as had never seen him do as much as grimace in pain in the past.  
His arm had almost been ripped off that day..  
He was beginning to feel a little woozy and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the rocky boat or his dive into memories.  
Why did his mother ever keep making him watch those tests?! He didn't exactly regret learning what he needed, so he could help his Silvally overhearing Malachite's rant at Faba about why they were doing such experiments, why he was so cruel and evil doing all this, but.. More screams, human screams of different people ringing in his ears and flashes of red, so much red and the wail of a siren.  
Faba’s panicked yells to the other to get all the hurt employees to safety.  
The employees risking their lives going back in to save their comrades.  
Another time, a memory he had frequent dreams about... when one of the Chimera’s got out of its restraints once again, leaping on Reginald, the creature not stopping it’s ripping as it tore his chest cavity wide open.  
Reginald was a sexist womanizer, who treated all the women at the foundations like shit, but for the little time he saw the man wither of the floor with some of his insides visible and gurgling that he didn’t want to die before Roy covered his eyes and pulled Gladion away was sickening.  
It made sense to him now why days later he found out the same Chinera’s legs had been broken probably by a physic type.  
Back then he thought it was evil, blinded by his hate for Faba and the other employees. They were the only ones to blame not the poor Silvally, they were just scared, but now he understands they only did so to save Reginald's life.  
For one of the first times in the blond boy's life, he wondered for a moment what had been going on in Faba’s head when he did what he did, what the man had been feeling and thinking.  
Had he felt sad or upset at all when his mother eventually made him freeze them?  
They were his creation after all even with the way he treated them, they were still his creation.  
And what about for him and Lillie?  
Had he truly felt nothing when mother was hurting them?  
Or was he fighting with his own emotions behind closed doors?  
Maybe for Lillie, he felt something, but definitely not for him especially after he stole his Silvally with Malachite’s assistance...  
Gladion went rigid, a dark thought boarding his train of thought.  
Malachite had taken his Silvally from right under Faba’s nose, in the top secret, secured labs where the blond kept them.  
He never thought about it before, but Faba must have been blamed for what had happened, Malachite had never been figured out for what he did, after all, so Faba had to be the person who received the blame.  
The person who mother must have taken all her anger out on.  
The vision of his mother’s long fingered hands around the Branch Chief’s neck flashed in his mind again.  
What did she do to him?  
Scratched him again?  
Done something even worse than that?  
No wonder he seemed to hate him so much the next time he saw him. The blond boy swallowed, Faba had done bad things.  
Very bad things, things Gladion not so long ago used to think were as evil as evil could get, but now?  
Well, he definitely couldn’t say what Faba did was okay and could never call him a saint, but he was no monster either.  
For a moment, the boy could feel Faba hug him and he couldn't say he hated it. It had felt weird, but it was almost comforting in a way. Gladion frowned, before or and even now when everything in his mind was primal as it could get he was no monster. A victim, but not a guiltless one indeed.. He would probably never forgive the man completely, but Gladion didn’t think he hated him anymore..  
The boy nearly flew from his set as the boat came to a jerky stop, barely managing to catch himself and stand up as the speakers blared for everyone to get off.  
Only about four sketchy looking people besides him left the boat and wandered elsewhere, Poni island wasn’t a tourist trap, after all, he was surprised there were that many people.  
He squinted, at what was left of the sun in the sky and grimaced already beginning the long walk to team skulls headquarters.  
He was going to have to hurry, with the long walk there and back and talking to the team, of course, he might back to run back to make it on the boat again.  
Gladion speed up his pace to a slow jog, hoping team skull was feeling especially vengeful today.  
~  
It was later in the day than he feared when he arrived at the large gates of the little town team skull had infested like a group of Ratta, two grunts a tiny male with a crew cut and a massive muscular woman with half her hair shaved off standing on either sides.  
“Hey, you yo! This is our turf, so scram before we plumule you!” the smaller grunt yelled, bounding up to him and waving his arm in that was that was probably supposed to be intimidating, but only came off as stupid looking.  
“Cool it, Mickie,” the female huffed and pulled the boy back her eyes meeting his, “Gladion.. What are yuh doing back here?”  
“Suzzie,” Gladion greeted calmly, “I have a proposal for your boss, all team skull really, so I would appreciate it if you let me in.”  
Suzzie crossed her arms, “A proposal, eh?” she asked raising an eyebrow as Mickie flipped him off behind her, “I don’t trust any of yuh damn proposals after you turned your back on us brat.”  
The blond boy’s eyes narrowed, “Hey, don’t forget you guys still basically kidnapped my sister! So excuse me if that pissed me off enough to call it quits!” Suzzie rolled her brown eyes at him, “Come on Gladion, that’s what you’re so ruffled about? Families wack! They are all good for nothing! You had us! You didn’t need them!”  
“Ya, yo! Wack! family is hella wack yo!” The smaller boy yapped.  
Gladion grounded in annoyance and glanced back up to the sky for a moment no time for banter he had to hurry, “Ugh! Just let me talk to Guzma Suzzie!"  
Suzzie smirked at him, her brightly dyed hair falling in front of her face, “You’re not even going to ask us nicely? Come on.. I thought your mommy raised you better than that.”  
“Really?! Ugh! Fine! Please! Please let me in!”  
“That's not nice enough!” The female purred in a sing song voice as Mickey snickered behind her.  
Gladion clenched his fists, why the hell did he even join this gang od ass holes again? “Please, if you would be so kind, I would appreciate it if you would kindly let me into your wonderful establishment,” he said in the same forced politeness, his mother used to force him to speak in, his face scrunched up in anger. “HAHAHA! You sound like a fucking pansy!” Mickie giggled.  
“Aww, good boy, very good boy! I guess you can come in, but If you try anything I’ll beat the ever loving shit out of you,” she said and ruffled his hair. The younger grunt behind her stuck his tongue out at him, “Ya! Me and her are gonna cream you, so stay in line yo!”  
Gladion swatted at Suzzie’s hand and glared murderously at the boy, Arceus. He was obnoxious as hell.  
“Alright go in, be my guest, but if any of the others try and attack you, you’re on your own,” she told him with a shrug and opened the gates.  
The blond boy walked through them, avoiding Mickie’s leg when he stuck it out.  
Gladion wrinkled his nose as he glanced around the place that he used to hang around so much, he forgot just how trashy it was here with all its broken bottles and bags of junk food littering the floor.  
Spray paint covering the surface of almost all the buildings and even some of the trees with crude messages or tic tac toe games. Everything looked as if it was falling apart with mold and vermin and bug Pokémon now calling the place home along with Team Skull.  
Before he was even halfway through the town he could feel all the eyes of the gang landed on him, the members crawling out of the shadows, shouting insults and a few throwing crushed up soda cans, but none of them sending out a single pokemon to attack him to Gladion’s relief.  
The group of skulls behind him only continued to grow and grow the more he approached the manor, reaching a little less than two dozen as he entered, all of them throwing their arms up in obscure ways.  
“YO! Big G, big sis!” a taller male grunt with a face full of piercings yelled at the base of the stairs as he ran off from the rest of the group, “The Gladion pipsqueak is here! You should plumule him!”  
There was a pause, the skulls continuing to yell until a face traveled down the stairs, “Hey! I’m trying to sleep you, boneheads! Shut-” Guzma’s voice boomed as he stomped down the stairs, stopping in the middle of them when he stopped Gladion with his usual members.  
“Oh, Hiya Gladio..” Plumeria’s voice spoke up, who must have heard the commotion as well, and marched down the stairs.  
Guzma sighed and slouched even more than he already was, “what do you want kid? Didn’t you say sometin about never coming back..?”  
Even if it looked like the man just woke up, Gladion was surprised at just how timid he was acting.  
He wasn’t yelling or snapping at him yet..  
“Hey, Plumeria,” Gladion said quickly before turning his attention to Guzma, “Ya, I did say that, but things have changed I can’t believe I’m saying this but-”  
“You ain’t never rejoinin team skull again brat!” a small girl yelled.  
“Youse got a lota nerve crawling back here!” a male chimed in.  
Plumeria rolled her eyes at them as Guzma growled angrily, “Shut it!” he yelled making all the grunts quickly close their mouths at once.  
“B..But boss he’s-” a brave or more stupid young boy started only to fall silent at Guzma’s glare.  
“Just be quiet! Shut your yaps!” He snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh.  
Plumeria frowned, as she gently touched the skull leaders shoulder.  
“What do you want squirt?” she asked him tiredly.  
Gladion hesitated for a moment, something was off with Guzma, very off. While it wasn’t unusual for him to lash out like this there was something about the tone he looked and spoke that concerned Gladion in a way, even Plumeria looked worried about him.. “I need your help with something,” he told them.  
“Help?” Plumeria echoed as Guzma’s mouth hanging open for a moment before hopping down the rest of the stars with Plumeria.  
“What? Why do you want my help? I thought yous was better than us now. Aren't us scum so below you boy? Go ask your precious mommy I’m not in the mood..”  
“You better go, kid, we're… kinda going through something at the moment,” Plumeria added in a surprisingly soft tone.  
“I would love to go, I really would, but I need your help. Your whole team.. I know you're all pissed about what happened with Aether Paradise a few months ago and long story short I need you to attack the foundations.”  
A majority of the grunts whispered excitedly to each other, a few jumping around and whooping, obviously wanting to go along with Gladions request.  
“Huhhhhh?” Guzma grunted as the woman beside him raised an eyebrow, “what is family life not as good as you remembered?”  
The blond clenched his teeth, forcing back any snarky comments that popped into his head, “That doesn’t matter! You want revenge right!? So take it! This is your chance! Do whatever you want when you get there, I don’t care!”  
The pair’s eyes widened and Plumeria even looked taken back, “Woh.. your for real about this aren’t ya?” Guzma asked him.  
“Yes! Yes! I am!” He snapped already starting to lose his nerve, he was so short on damn time why was Guzma even hesitating?! He usually never held back any opportunity to hurt people especially in the form of revenge, “Don’t you want to beat them down? Especially after how they used you to hide their shady image!”  
Instead of getting wild up as he had hoped, Guzma ran a hand through his messy hair and walked up to him, “Gladion, look I dono why your doin this, but I’m not attacken them. I.. me and Plumes have been talking lately and..” the goons voice lowered to a whisper, “We’ve been thinken about disbanding the team. I..I errr really wanta try and get better.. like as a person.. And attacken the foundations isn’t really… gonna help me do that.”  
The pink haired girl patted his back and nodded, “Sorry, Gladion,” she said with an unapologetic shrug, “none of us are going your bidding this time.”  
Gladion nearly recoiled back in shock, “you’re kidding me!”  
“Quiet kid we haven’t told them yet,” Plumeria huffed as Guzma nervously glanced to the grunts and back to the blond boy, “No.. I ain’t, I really wanna try and get better. I was even gonna change my hoodie..”  
The blond boy openly gawked at them, so this was the reasoning behind the lack of team skull grunts he had seen running around and just being an overall nuisance.  
Just his damn luck.  
Guzma wasn’t just not instructing them but ordering them not to do such things..  
Gladion was almost proud…. if it didn’t come at such a bad damn time!  
Why now?! Why the hell did Guzma decide to up and try to get better now when he and his team of thugs were actually needed for something with while!?  
That fire Franchesca mentioned, he knew it wouldn’t work at least for as long as they needed it to, they needed team skull.  
The much younger boy steeped a little closer to the Bug-type trainer, “Guzma It’s good and all your at least trying to be a somewhat decent human being, but Aether is doing something really messed up-”  
“Again?” Plumeria huffed, looking unimpressed.  
“Yes, again! But what we’re doing now is about a million times worse than anything they have done before combined! P..Please. We need your help. Attacking them wouldn’t be a bad thing. We’re trying to help someone that’s suffering.”  
Guzma stared at him for a moment, surprised at his begging.  
“The kid sound’s serious Guz, what do you think?” Plumeria muttered to him.  
The gang leader made a face, “N..no, I still don’t want to get involved with them again, once was more than enough Plumes.”  
Gladion bit his tongue, badly wanting to start yelling at the pair in his frustration, not paying attention when the group of gunts watching them had gone dead silent and were turned to the front door, with wide eyes.  
“Come on Guzma! I won’t bother you again and I would only need you to attack for a little while!”  
“I said no! Like I said um trying to stay out of trouble!” The man shot back, sounding annoyed now.  
Gladion grabbed his wrist, about to try and knock some sense into them both if them when a gruff voice broke through the scene, “Now Gladion you really shouldn’t peer pressure him, it’s not very gentleman like of you, kid.”  
“Nanu..” Gladion greeted the man, the USB appearing to grow heavier in his pocket. Well now he wasn’t going to need to go knock on his door..  
Nanu waved a lazy hand at him, looking terribly bored, as usual, ignoring Gladion and instead looked over to Guzma and Plumeria, “Any of you crumbling under it yet?”  
Guzma glared at his grunts, “What ya’ll let the old geezer in for!?”  
“I resent that,” Nunu huffed.  
“S..Sorry boss! He gave us the look! And said he was going to spank me if I didn’t!” one of the grunts whined.  
Guzma only rubbed his temples, “No old man, I’m not crumbling. The brat's a kid! Why would I crumble to him?”  
“Aww come on boss!” the same pierced grunt whined, “you can’t just back down! Let's go beat down all those dorks at Aether! Let’s teach them a lesson!”  
“Hey! Be quiet you boneheads did you forget Nunu is a cop?!” Plumeria said scoldingly.  
“Ah..ya woops, s..sorry big sis,” the teen cringed.  
Nanu simply shrugged, “I already heard almost everything you said, no need to hide it especially as I don’t really care if you go or not. I’m not stupid, I can’t beat you all and I don’t feel like calling for reinforcements and talking with those hard asses and blah, blah, blah..”  
Something in Gazma's eyes flashed. Was he becoming convinced now? Latching on to this golden opportunity, Gladion leaned toward Guzma again, “See you won’t get in trouble plus.. Guzma.. Have you ever heard me beg you for anything before? I’m not joking around, this is for a very good cause, you all would be the good guys. I know you might be about to disband team skull, but don’t you think your team deserves one least good battle together? This might be the last time they all see each other. So why not send them all off with a bang? The skull boss was silent, rubbing his unshaven jaw and looked to his friend for a moment who nodded at him. Guzma chuckled softly, his face slowly breaking out into what most people would have thought was his usual crazed smile, but Gladion knew him well enough to know it was more bittersweet than anything. “Alright! Fine! Ya’ll convinced me!” he yelled to the group of loyal thugs, “We ain’t gonna go easy on them either and beat them down one last time together!! Those fools think they can make a joke of us and get away with it? Well, I say it’s time we put them in their place!” All the skulls cheered, jumping up and down like egger Growliths and punching their comrades on the shoulders. “You better not be making them do this for no reason,” Plumeria muttered to him as Guzma continued to wild up the crowd.  
“I’m not, just trying to be there before 2:45… we need you to attack then, you think you can crawl them?” “I have for this long haven’t I?” she said softly, “You just owe me and Guz a soiled after this alright?” “Got it.. Thank you, Plumeria, you too Guzma..” Gladion said feeling truly grateful for what the two were doing for him, like the first time he showed up here and let him join without too many questions and turned to hurry up and chat with Nanu. Give him the USB and get the hell back to the house, but the man was gone, probably taken off in all the yelling. For being lazy as hell Nunu sure could slip away quick as hell when he was needed. “Damn it.. I need to go talk to Nanu, You guys better be there!”  
“I said I will calm down squirt!” Guzma called before Gladion quickly rushed outside.  
“Nanu wait up!” he called to the man who had already somehow made it to the gate, dragging his feet as he walked.  
“So, you going to tell me why you want team skull to attack your mother’s workplace or did I just give them permission to get their asses handed to them because mommy didn’t give you any dessert for not eating your vegetables?”  
Gladion gave him a dirty look as they were let out of the gates in which Mickie called Nanu a Tepig making the old man Onik a few times in reply.  
“I didn’t think so, so kid what the hell did they do this time? Must be something pretty bad.”  
“That’s the understatement of the century,” the blond sighed shakily, begin to slowly pull the USB out of his pocket.  
“That bad huh?” Nanu asked.  
“Ya, and I.. we would use your help this time around.”  
Nanu stared at him, “My help? Am I talking to the same kid right now? You’ve never wanted my help before.”  
“I asked for the help of team skull of all people, didn’t I?!” he sniped.  
“Well ya, but their team skull, I’m a cop kid. What the hell did they do or are doing then for you to go this far for help?” Nanu asked his voice turning serious.  
I can’t tell you everything. You won’t believe me and It would take too much time, so just take this F..Francesca, she’s an employee from the foundations. She told me to give it to you personally because..she said out of everyone we could trust you, which I agree with,” he said and without hesitation held out the USB to the man.  
“Franchesca... Franchesca Reed? Let me guess is she a redhead?” Nunu asked cautiously, stopping in the middle of the path they were walking down to gaze down at the USB drive.  
“Uh, ya that’s her, what about it?” The blond boy asked, counting to hold out the USB.  
“It’s nothing, I just arrested her more times than I could count, little shit bit the crap out of my arm the first time I did. Anyways, what’s on this thing? Was the little thief I mentioned involved or something? I’m assuming this must be important ”  
“It is...just watch it, all of it okay? This is important! It’s all the proof you need to get over to the foundation and help us out, to take Aether down once and for all,” Gladion told him firmly.  
The dark type user took it inspecting it for a few moments before looking back to him, “Kid I don’t know what the hell is going on there or what danger you’re in, but depending how long it takes to look through all this, It might take me a while to get over there, even longer if I decided… to get my friend involved.”  
“That’s fine, you can arrest those sick ass holes later, just try and get there as soon as you can okay? This is really serious and they need to be confronted as soon as possible!”  
Nanu’s grip tightened on the USB, “I’ll try, just... Do me a favor and don’t get yourself killed, you're a good kid..”  
Gladion didn’t respond to that, good kid?  
Ya right..  
He had treated the cop like shit for the longest time..  
Yelled at him and lashed out too many times. The old man cleared his throat after a moment and motioned his head at the sky, “Didn’t you say you didn’t have time to chat? It’s going to get dark soon.. I would take off if I were you.”  
“Right,” Gladion answered stiffly, looking nervously to the sky, “Wicke and the others probably called all the reinforcements were going to get... Thank’s Nanu. I don’t think I could have convinced team skull without you... and for listening, you’re not bad for a grouchy old man.”  
“Ya, Ya whatever kid, now scatdattle,” Nanu said, his red eyes locked on the USB, “And like I said don’t die! If this is what I think it’s about… you need to be careful… who knows what sick things the foundation is doing now.”  
Oh Nanu, It’s not going to be anything like you think, Gladion thought only giving the man a last nod, before he ran off to the boats.  
“Hey, umm Keven are you there?” he asked after a few minutes of running, pulling the Walkie talkie out of his bag.  
“Yes, Gla.. I mean young master?” the young voice replied after a few seconds.  
“I convinced team skull into attacking, the plan is a let's go, I just hope those idiots do everything I told them to.”  
“It’s team skull,” Keven sighed, “At the very least they’ll attack anyone they see, which is good enough, even if they come earlier than needed, I’m sure things will be fine! With Franchesca as our leader, I just know this is all going to work out! We have come so far since that awful day… We can't give up now. With your help young master, I don’t doubt our victory one bit!”  
With that glimmer of hope now shining in Keven's voice, how confident in Franchesca he seemed to be Gladion couldn't help but think that they may actually have a shot of winning too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reginold: "Look at my badass scar everyone! It's so damn cool and all the way across my chest! I got it from a giant killer beast you know and lived, can you believe that? No one has a scar as impressive as me. Now compliment me will you? You to ladies, you should really get a look at my scar."  
> ?: "Hmm, that sound's like nothing more than a pathetic paper cut.. really nothing to be proud of at all.."  
> Reginold: "Huh? who the hell do you think you are with your stupid purple hair.. This scar is a lot more impressive than anything you'll ever have!"  
> ?: *smirks* "Oh is that so?" *moves hair back to show half his face is gone*  
> Reginold: "Ahhh! What the fuck!? W..What the hell happened to you!?"  
> ?: "Same as you, Just in a different world. With your small mind, you wouldn't get half of it.."


	30. Why Is He Loved?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which shit is about to go down and Malachite is about to snap like a flimsy stick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellos ya'll! Hellos! Hellos!  
> I'm finally done with the chapter! It took me long enough, didn't it?!  
> Well, guess what? The next chapter is going to take even longer, yay!!  
> It's long, very, very long.  
> I'll try my hardest to get it done as fast I can though.  
> Oh and just as I promised in the last chapter here is Emerald/Faba in wonderful plush form!!  
>   
> He's such a cute little baby! And pretty big too.  
> One of his stingers is even broken if you look close enough!  
> He usually has to stay up high sadly, because my biggest fear is that my idiot pug will get to it and try to rip him to pieces which would really fucking suck as I love him, like a lot.  
> I like to give him lots of pets, it's just too bad he's never going to be human again like this at least.  
> Aaaaand for an extra special treat I attempted to do some art today on my laptop and it came out better than expected!  
> The colors are a little jacked up, but It's kinda cute so here you go!  
>   
> I think that's about it for art this chapter, I'll most more on the next one though maybe ya'll can even suggest shit to me If you want and I can give it a try drawing it, I really need all the practice I can get.  
> Anyhow going into the story not much happens in the chapter once again except for Malachite losing his shit that was really fun to write, everything really starts to pick up speed in the next chapter, so get ready for that!  
> Also, this might be a little confusing but the second part in this chapter happens first timeline wise than the first part was, for dramatic effect only really, so just a heads up.  
> Other than all that there nothing more I want to say, so I hope ya'll enjoy reading this chapter as the second part was a blast to write and apologize in advance for any spelling errors or improper sentence structure.

Wickie tapped her foot impatiently on the sandy ground, giving Faba comforting pets on his mane, gazing out into the endless blue of the ocean waiting for the white glint of a boat with into the waves Franchesca would be arriving with at any moment.  
Burnet stood supportively beside her while the rest of the now decently sized group stood a little behind her Lillie, Hou, and Gladion who had just arrived, but also the new groupie's Hapu, Accarola, and Kukui.  
The children were mostly clustered together, talking in hushed voices among themselves probably going over the plan once again.  
Kukui shot another smile the two from where he was stood that Wicke could tell was once again a weak one, at least compared to his normal ones.  
The smile once again falling when Faba whined loudly as he realized the man was looking his way, Wicke resited glaring at him, Oh how she wished Kukui would stop looking at her.  
The woman never smiled or even waved back at him since the man had arrived, no matter how warm and apologetic he was acting, she still was a little upset with the man for trying to hunt down someone she cared about, even if she knew it wasn’t entirely the professor’s fault.  
He had just thought her friend was a dangerous Ultra Beast as did all the Kahunas along with Hala and all the others…  
In hindsight, she should be more angry with them than Kukui, unlike the professor they attacked him with the intention to kill.  
They had ripped one of his poor stingers off.  
She frowned, Hopefully since the stinger wasn’t originally part of his body it wouldn’t leave any sort of scar or mark, Faba didn’t need any more of those.  
“I’m so sorry all of this should have never taken place. It’s... all so awful,” Burnet spoke softly.  
“No, It shouldn’t have,” Wicke said coldly, “I just… I can’t believe so many of the employees, people I worked with and thought I knew would want to do something this twisted! Their morals may have been questionable, but I never could have imagined they would do something this evil!”  
Burnet gently touched her shoulder, “Don’t worry, They’re going to be locked up for a long time and aren’t ever going to harm another person or Pokemon ever again.”  
The woman’s face darkened, “They all deserve worse for what they did.”  
Burnet didn’t reply to that comment, not liking that dark glint of anger present in her eyes.  
“Perhaps they do, but that’s not your call to make. I understand your hatred for them Wicke and I trust you, but can you promise me you’re not going to hurt anyone at the foundation who we don’t need to, even the ones directly responsible for what happened? I know asking that is hard, but please hurting others will only make this situation worse.”  
Wickie didn’t even bother denying that she had been thinking about this and sighed heavily.  
But, it also wasn’t like she was going to let Lilac knockout random employees willy nilly.  
She only really wanted to harm the ones involved, that unlike Franchesca and her group didn’t bother to help her poor friend, just stood back and watched it happen.  
Went back to their jobs and continued to work as if nothing had happened as if they did nothing wrong.  
She thought she knew them, used to call them by a first name basis and on occasion have cups of tea while having pleasant conversations with them.  
Even with their morals they most of them seemed like good people to Wicke.  
“Why shouldn’t I? They hurt him! All of them did! You watched that video… read the report. Prison would be merciful to them after they did that to him. They hurt him so badly, just because they didn’t like him as their boss Burnet! What kind of a reason is that?! I want to hurt them... just to make them feel a little of what they forced Faba to go through.”  
The white haired woman gazed at her, then looked down at Faba who was rubbing his head against Wicke’s hand not paying any mind to Burnet, “You really love him don’t you?”  
Wicke was taken back by this question, the dark glint in her eyes fading.   
Love him? She thought numbly, reminiscing about the way her heart would melt whenever the man got overly excited about something and talked a mile a minute about various topics losing his composure and sometimes even jumping up and down with his eyes lighting up.  
The fond memories of the nights they would watch horror movies together where every time Faba would puff out his chest and declare to her that he wasn’t scared and the movie was stupid filth only to scream at every scene that in her opinion weren’t all that scary and be jumpy and nervous for hours after the film was over.   
Just how relaxed he looked whenever he fell asleep on her or just her couch, with his limbs splayed out all over the place or curled up like a Litten.  
The way he would always steep a little in front of her whenever Lusamine was acting aggressively around the two and make her attention turn to him when even the crazed woman was yelling at her for something.  
Even things as small as the softness of his hair when she ran her fingers through it, how he would always smell like fruit and coffee, the way he would baby talk his pokemon when he thought no one was around, how he spat out praise to others like it was some kind of poison since it wasn’t aimed towards him, and the way he spoke so confidently of himself and sometimes even ranted to disrespectful employees that they should be more like her and the other employees he was found of.  
All of these things even with how obnoxious he could be made her adore him so much, her heart fluttered just thinking about it.  
“Of course I do,” she said softly as Faba nuzzled her leg with his beak like muzzle.  
“Then you need to focus on that, not your hatred Wicke. None of them are worth as much as your time hitting them. You need to keep your goal on getting Faba into that lab room to change him back, not going through with your own justice and doing things you might regret.”  
“Don’t worry about them, Wicke!” Kukui called to her, who had somehow overheard the conversation, “You don’t even have to look at any of them, we’ll handle it, Yah?”  
Faba whined at the sound of the man’s voice and hid more behind Wicke.  
“And don’t worry, we’re not going easy on them,” Hapu added seriously as Accarolla jumped up and down a few times with a wicked grin on her face, “Nope! We won’t! I’ll fight as hard as I can to make up for me trying to hunt Mr.Faba!”  
“Just don’t kill too many of them, the blood would take forever to come out of the walls… I don’t understand who’s bright idea it was to build the entirety of the Aether foundation white,” Gladion huffed spinning an ultra ball in his hand.  
“Hey! Were not going to kill anyone!” Hau protested with a concerned glance at the blond boy.  
“Yes... don’t do that please.” Burnet sighed.  
Gladion crossed his arms, “We won’t, we won’t. they're just going to majorly rough them up is all. I think Nanu would be upset if they killed anyone anyhow.”  
“Gladion, don’t say things like-” Lillie started, but paused as her eyes landed on a specific part of the ocean, “Oh look! Miss Franchesca! I think that’s her!”  
Everyone on the beach looked to the water and sure enough, a white boat quickly bounced towards them on the waves.  
“Woh! There she is! I was starting to wonder if she was having trouble slipping away!” Professor Kukui said with the best smile he could probably manage.  
“Well, that’s good. Let’s just hope part two of the plan works and Team Skull attacks like those scoundrels said they would,” Hapu huffed.  
“Oh they will, It’s really obvious when most of them are lying, they even looked excited to attack Aether,” Gladion reassured her.  
“At least they're just helping us out for once,” Lillie murmured, looking a little unsure now.  
Kukui’s lips twitched in amusement at this muttering something about Guzma to himself, as the Aether boat came up to a stop next to them.  
Faba cringed and nervously sniffed at the air.  
The door to the driver’s area creaked open, a familiar hazel eyed, redhead, rushing out and jumping on to the sand.  
Faba looked warry for a moment as he eyed her uniform, but quickly relaxed and started to grin as his blue eyes scanned over her face, his tail wagging from side to side.  
Wickie frowned at the woman, but the dark glint wasn’t near as strong as the last time she saw the redhead even if it was still present enough to make Franchesca wince.  
The green eyed woman knew she was helping, trying to atone for her sins, but, she still disliked her more than most. It’s not like her helping them return Faba to normal immediately redeemed what she had done, especially as he might not even be fully human after they did so. If… no, when they turned Faba back to normal then maybe it might be a different story.  
“No Faba stay back,” she told the creature softly as he started to approach the woman, “I don’t want her anywhere near you, not ever.”  
Faba looked sadly between the two, his ears dropping a little, shuffling his claws and staying where he was by Wickie.  
Franchesca looked hurt but didn’t seem to pay it all too much mind.  
“Um, hello,” she nodded respectfully to what to her were newcomers, “ I’m.. sorry, you all had to get pulled into this shit, so thanks for helping us out with, you're all definitely going to make things at least a little easier for us."  
“It’s no problem cousin! You can count on us!” Kukui said confidently.   
Burnet smiled softly, “It’s the least we can do, I just wish we could have helped you out before.”  
“Just doing something a semi-decent human being would do,” Hapu sighed as Gladion huffed, “Let’s just hope nothing goes to sh.. Crap.”  
“After all this planning, It better not,” Wicke mumbled more to herself than all the others, “we..we can’t stand to fail, not now.”  
“I’m sure we won’t and even if it does on the off chance, the others and I will stop at nothing to fix him. No matter what,” Franchesca told her calmly, looking unflinching into her eyes.  
“I expect nothing less from you and them, now are going to get going? I’m sure some of us are starting to get impatient.” Wicke asked, both dreading and anxious to start heading over to the foundations and turn her friend back into a human.  
“Well, of course, we don’t want to damn thing to float away, everyone all aboard the SS I Stole A Boat Express!” the Aether employee said and motioned with both hands at the boat.  
Gladion snorted, shoving his hands deep in his pocket and hopping on the boat as did all the others.  
Wickie eyed the redhead her gaze a lot softer than ever before, not feeling near as much hate as she normally did toward the red head as she urged Faba onto the white boat.  
“Go on, Faba sweetheart we're going to make you better soon! You won’t feel wrong for much longer I promise.”  
The scaly experiment hesitated, eyeing the boat warily making Wicke wonder if he had any kind of understanding where the boat was going to go, casting a longful glance at Franchesca who to Wickie’s surprize smiled faintly at the creature, “Come on, bean beast It’s just a dumb boat nothing to be afraid of!”  
The purple haired woman didn’t appreciate the name, but Faba didn’t seem fazed at all, making a line in the sand with one on his claws before slowly stepping on the boat.   
Wicke was quick to follow him and sat down on one of the two benches next to Lillie, who gently helped the creature scramble up the bench, sighing as the man turned beast sat down in an eerily human like fashion that made Burnet and Kukui flinch.  
The beast stared at Franchesca expectantly from his seat and stuck his head out at her as she walked towards him, but instead of petting him like the beast probably wanted, the red head quickly walked past him and sat down in the captain’s chair.  
Wicke struggled not to feel bad as Faba whimpered softly and hung his head, obviously hurt by her rejection that she only did because of what Wickie had commanded it of her.  
The woman watched her, as the redhead pulled a Walkie talkie out of one of her pockets, “Hey Erasers? No, I’ll stop calling you that when you start not fucking swallowing them! Ya... I know it’s not on purpose.. Look, we're on the way okay? Is team Skull there yet? Really? Oh, that’s good, are they attacking from the rear or are they all over by now? Okay, got it, see you- what? Ya, I promise we are turning him back Keven we will! Hmmm? me too. I hope so, stay strong kid. Oh and If anything does put me out of commission or I just get found out, tell Markus he’s in charge alright? And Tell Reginold…. That after everything I think he’s an okay human being… even if he is an idiot and needs to learn his place, the little bitch…. And tell all the others that I’m really proud of them all and all the hard work they’ve put into this operation. You’ve risked a lot to do this and I just can’t thank you all enough. I’m so grateful to have had you all by side, you especially Kev, I know finding all those videos was hard, I'm so proud of you.. H..Hey don't you dare cry on me! Ya, ya, you too. Over and out.”  
Wicke turned away from the woman her gut-churning ever so slightly.  
The woman sounded so guilty, so determined to help her friend.  
Her eyes eventually drifted to the almost nonexistent scratch marks, the black eye and the fresh bruising around her neck Wicke had given her yesterday.  
The purple haired woman cringed, guilt taking its hold on her.  
Wickie felt a bit ill, she shouldn’t have been so violent with the woman.  
Franchesca was trying so hard to make up for what she did, admitted to her fault without hesitation, took the abuse from Lusamine and probably from quite a few others.  
Franchesca was a fighter and probably would be until the bitter end.  
She could have punched Wickie away when she turned the tables and had her hands around her neck like that, Wicke had seen her first hand beat up another employee twice her size, doing the same to her just to get Wicke away from her would have been simple.  
Instead, she went worryingly limp.  
The woman bit her lip, her emotions for the redhead continuing to twist together in a confusing mound.  
Franchesca also always looked so worried about Faba, so concerned for him.  
When they spoke with her in the hospital and when meeting up with her in the cave.  
Even now it was obvious she was worried and with the way Faba acted around her it was clear she treated him nicely when he was trapped in the foundations.  
She was probably one of the only people who did..   
Wicke was being so hard on her, after everything she did for Faba.. she didn’t deserve it.  
Not completely at least.  
“Franchesca?” Wicke called out to the woman softly.  
“Ya?” Franchesca asked nervously, “Don’t worry I know how to drive a boat pretty well and Malachite should be long gone by-”  
“That’s not what I was going to say..” she sighed, “I… I just wanted to thank you for helping Faba. I.. was wrong when I called you a monster yesterday. You’re a...” the woman paused, “a good person for doing all this.”  
Franchesca along with almost everyone else on the boat looked surprised as Burnet just smiled softly at the green eyed woman.  
“You're welcome, But.. I’m not a good person, Wickie, I’m just trying my best to fix what I broke, you know that.”  
“You’re a lot better of a person than anyone else at the foundation,” Gladion shrugged, “What you did was horrible, but at least you owning up to what you did and are trying to do something about it..”  
“Mrs. Lusamine and Mr. Malachite are the main ones to blame! Your acting like this is all your fault when it’s not. You only played a small part.” Hou told her gently.  
“Ya, it’s only around… 17% your fault!” Accarlla added.  
Franchesca’s grip tightened on the wheel, “You're wrong. I could have done something. I knew what they were going to do and I didn’t stop it. I didn’t do anything and let it happen… What kind of good person does something like that? One sick fucker that’s who.”  
“Miss. Franchesca... I don’t think you could have done anything to stop this from happening, mother would have hurt you if you tried,” Lillie spoke up with a small shudder as she patted Faba’s head.  
The redhead just shook her head softly and Wicke could see her hands shake.  
No one said a word for a moment before Hapu sighed, “Look, I think Gladion is right. What you did… wasn’t necessarily right, but I think you’re heading down the right path to true redemption,” the small girl told her firmly.  
“You might not think you’re a good person, but I believe you are. By the look of it, you’ve already sacrificed a lot trying to help him,” Burnet added.  
“I know I don't really know you cousin, but I can already sense the fiery determination in your soul cousin! With you, on our side, I’m sure things will go fine, yah!”  
“I hope so! I know everything will go to plan! We trust you, Franchesca!”  
Even if Wickie wasn’t sure if she could completely forgive the woman for what she did, she agreed with most of the statements made.  
The red head took one of her hands off the wheel to rub something quickly away from her eyes, “T-thank you.” the grunt choked out, “I think I needed that… No one has ever really supported me like that before.”  
Wickie found herself smiling softly at the woman as the boot zoomed across the water on the way to the hellscape that was Aether Paradise.  
~  
Malachite’s hand tightened on his phone, leaning forward in his chair and drumming his gloved fingers restlessly on the desk, “Yes Mia I’m sure, I’ve already made preparations to go over there for weeks now everything has been cleared!”  
From the other line, Mia snorted, “That’s not what I meant and you know it. I’m not worried about your schedule, It’s your behavior. I can tell by your tone you’re pissed about something and I’m not letting you anywhere near Miss. Hayes if you’re acting like that again.”   
Malachite forced back a growl, a noise that would have proved to her he had reverted to such behavior, sticking his hand in his pocket for a moment to twist an unseen object around with his fingers.  
Breath, breath, breath, It’s okay.  
You're okay, you’re in control, just breathe the ocean eyed man thought, taking a few breaths to calm himself before speaking again, “I’m fine Mia, just a little frustrated with some of my employees at the moment.”  
“Right... You're ‘frustrated,’ you’ve been frustrated for a while now haven’t you Malachite?”   
Malachite was a little puzzled now, “what are you-”  
“Daymond, Before he got hurt under... let's call them mysterious circumstances, he would call me, talk to me about how everything at the foundations had been going for him, the pokemon he was rehabilitating and how his dear friend Malachite’s anger issues have been getting worse than usual,” Mia said calmly.  
Worse than usual? The outbursts he had had around his friend?  
Daymond told her about them?!  
His hands twitched, wanting so badly to shatter Faba's stupid visors that glinted at him from his desk.  
This was new news to Malachite, something he didn’t want to hear as he gripped the little object harder in his pocket.  
Why was the nurse even bringing this up?  
He had only talked to the woman a handful of times after Daymond was put in the hospital, but It was only very small conversations on paying her and how aunt Marry was doing.  
He had spoken to her about going to see the old woman for weeks now, why was she choosing now to confront him about any of this?  
When he failed to respond Mia went on, “I’ve seen you get angry before Malachite. Daymond always knew handled it so well, he was never scared of your behavior at all back then, never even flinched really when you broke his stuff. He always said you have a good reason to be angry, but this time... he sounded afraid of you, or got scared by something you did.”  
The man blinked, Something he did?  
Was it what they did to Faba? But it was just Faba!!  
What was up with him and his pity for the bastard!?  
What he did shouldn’t have scared Daymond, Faba deserved the pain, still deserved the pain.  
Why couldn’t anyone grasp that?   
WHY DIDN'T THEY UNDERSTAND?!  
Why had Daymond been scared of him?!  
Why were the others scared of him?!  
They should be thanking him for getting rid of that monster of a man!  
Why didn’t they see how evil and heartless he was?!

‘Red trickled into his vision as he kicked Faba, the stupid scaly beast relatively.'  
'The employees flinching as he screamed at them.'  
'What, no Daymond, I’m fine why are you asking?’

I’m fine.

‘Cured up by a wall sobbing his eyes out.  
Daymond, Daymond, oh Arcurs why did it have to be him?’

He was just a little stressed, but overall he was just fine.  
“I... scared him? He was probably just being overdramatic. You know Daymond, remember that one time when he was drunk and starting crying because you mentioned Sevipers don't have any arms? Or when he ranted about how destiny is a stupid concept after someone told him they were destined for greatness for like... three hours?”  
“He was drunk Malachite you know he’s whinny and spouts nonsense when he’s drunk,” Mia said coldly, “and besides he would never overreact when it comes to something like this. He sounded so terrified of you and so guilty about... something. I don’t know what it was, but I think the two of you did something, something bad. So what was it? If it’s what hurt Daymond and you're just staying quiet about it… so help me I’ll wring your neck you. I owe Daymond everything, even if he did do something twisted with you.”  
Malachites grip was so tight on the phone now he was in danger of breaking it, Mia was truly too smart for her own good.  
She always had been, she always knew, no matter how hard he tried to hide anything.  
Even more so when he had been rendered so low by… him.  
Keep asking Malachite about him.  
How he was doing.  
How he was handling everything.  
About what happened.  
Malachite saw red again. 

'You're so beautiful, my little water stone.’

Him, him, him, him, him.  
“I can’t tell you that Mia,” he grumbled softly, jerking his hand out of his pocket and dug his nails into the wood, moving his index finger ti tap on his newly required green mug.  
It wasn’t like he could tell the woman the truth anyways.  
Mia wouldn’t understand just like the rest of them.  
That and If he did and ended up Lusamine found out, It would be bad news for both of them, even if Mia was far from his favorite person in the world he didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.  
“Heh, so you two did do something bad then..” the nurse scoffed, “Something classified that doing made you very, very pissy. Was... It really was an ultra beast that hurt him Malachite? or maybe… was it you? Did you lose your temper on him when he tried to ask you about it?” she asked dangerously.  
Malachite shot up to his feet, “Don’t you DARE accuse me of something like that! It was all that damn bas.. Beasts falt!” he snarled ignoring the tinge of guilt in his gut.

‘Dreams of Daymond covered in blood.  
Of him covered in Daymond’s blood.'  
'His best friend, unmoving in a hospital bed.  
He was so still, too damn still.’

“I would never in a million years hurt Daymond! I owe him everything too Mia! Everything… I would still be in that house with.. him if it wasn’t for Daymond!”  
There was nothing, but silence on the other side until Mia sighed, “I.. Arcus I’m sorry Malachite, I know you wouldn’t. I don’t know why I said that.. I guess I’m just stressed out too… It never stops hurting when she asks about him.”  
The red in Malachite’s vision faded, his legs becoming weak all of a sudden as he collapsed back in his chair and swallowed a lump in his throat, “I.. I bet, I can hardly take it when someone in the foundations even just brings up his name.”  
Daymond’s poor aunt, she was such a kind woman, it wasn’t fair all this was happening to her, her declining physical and mental state, Daymond being hurt, Her memory constantly slipping away...  
Sometimes she didn’t even recognize Malachite when he visited.  
“Malachite," Mia's voice choked up, "It's not looking good for him, what am I going to tell her… if… if he dies?”  
Malachite’s throat closed up, even more, the horror of his possible outcome making him feel light headed.  
What would they do if he passed?  
What would he do?  
He was their everything, Malachite felt empty enough without him right now, but if he died?  
“I don’t know,” Malachite breathed, “We might… be better off not telling her at all. She would just forget and there’s no need to tell her over and over again... It would be cruel.” he said, his voice shaking at the thought of Daymond flat lining.  
Having a funeral for him.   
Seeing the man he once called a friend lay in a coffin looking as if he was simply asleep.  
Never seeing him or his smile that made him so calm, ever again.  
What would he do without him?  
This was all Faba’s fucking fault, taking advantage of Daymond’s overly large heart and making his friend pity the bastard.  
It was always Faba.  
He saw red again.  
That sad damn excuse of a human being, If Faba was never born everything in the world would’ve been perfect.   
If the fucker just stopped breathing than him and Daymond, along with everyone at the foundation would’ve lived a happy stress free life.  
A loud knock interrupted his dark thoughts and the conversation he was having with Mia.  
“What is it? I’m on the phone!” He snipped, drawing his cell away from his ear for a moment.  
“Umm Branch Chief Malachite? It’s important sir, Mr. Roy wanted me to get you because.. He and the others thought they found the Fabeast, but then-”  
The ocean eyed man threw the door open before the voice could finish, a tired, underfeed looking teenager on the other side who flinched at the slightly crazed expression on his face.  
“The Fabest?” Malachite whispered.  
The intern nodded, looking past him for a moment to stare at the visors and mug on his desk that didn’t belong to him, the kid’s eyes darkened, glinting with disgust and hatred, “technically I guess but-”  
“I’ll see you later tonight Mia, I’ll be calm I promise,” he interrupted, then abruptly hung up and shoved the phone in his other pocket.  
“Where is it? Where did they put it, Keven?” the asked, getting a little too close to the teen.  
“Lab A, they took all the other pokemon out of it for now, but-”  
The ocean eyed man stopped listening, rushing past the boy not even bothering to close the door and started the walk down the hall to the lab.  
Faba.  
They had finally found the bastard after all this time of waiting and searching.  
The nights of pacing around his quarters, angry as all hell thinking about the bastard running around after what he did to Daymond, pissed that he had nothing to kick, nothing to hurt any longer as his anger grew stronger and stronger.  
They finally found him.  
Good, he could start training right away then.  
It was long overdue, oh how he was going to make the dumb thing whine and scream again.  
He didn’t even need to get the other collar from Lusamine. His boots and fists were all he needed.  
The damn thing just needed to suffer.  
Keven didn’t follow him for what would have been a suspicious amount of time If Malachite wasn’t so focussed on getting to the labs, the intern running to catch back up with him.  
“Branch Chief Malachite! It’s really not! Hey, would you slow down?! Arceus I miss the old Chief so much he listened to me most of the time… why did you ask me to get him, Mr. Roy!? I need to get back in the labs with the others in case anyone calls.”  
The ocean eyed man didn’t catch wind of what Keven was muttering about, his mind solely locked on thoughts of ‘training’ that fucking bastard.  
Faba was going to fucking get it this time for everything he did.  
It was all Faba’s fault, everything was.  
Everything always was.  
He hurriedly opened the door to the lab once he arrived at it, where Roy and a small number of other employees were standing around one of the large cages in the middle of the lab.  
Malachite eagerly walked over to it, but soon froze, the cage… Faba wasn’t in it.   
It was a Zororark.  
In a flash he turned on Keven, towering over the child as his hands began to tremble.  
He wanted to hit something.  
Faba wasn’t here after all.  
Where was the fucking bastard!?  
“You.. you said it was here, where the hell is it?!”  
Keven took a few steps back, “I’ve been trying to tell you sir! They did find the Fabeast, but it wasn’t really him and… he turned back into a Zoroark after they put him in the cage.”  
Red was nearly consuming his sight by this point, turning to the nearby wall and driving his fist into it, hard enough to dent it.  
He could hear a whisper of Mia’s voice, ‘you’re being violent Malachite.’  
Faba wasn’t here.  
Someone must have ordered the dark type to change into Faba and run around to get them off the real ones tail!  
They had been tricked.  
“FUCKING DAMN IT!!”  
Everyone in the room minus Roy flinched as he punched the wall a second time, turning again on Keven with a snarl, “YOU CAUGHT A FUCKING ZORORAK!? Miss. Wickie and Gladion…. THEY STILL FUCKING HAVE HIM?!  
“I don’t know sir! I’m not even supposed to be here! Mr. Roy just sent me to get you! How am I supposed to know any of that!? That’s your job to figure out! Anyways can I go? There’s someplace I need to be a lot more than here with you,” he said coldly, voice dripping with hate.  
Keven instantly cringed as he fished the statement and went rigged.  
Malachite’s fist twitched again.  
Keven, the little shit.  
How dare he say that to him.  
The damn brat…treating him like that when he used to be such a fucking suck up when it came to Faba.  
Following him around like a lost Growlithe.  
Bragging up a storm only when the old Chief was around to hear it.  
He had never cared about any of this before now.  
Never even paid too much attention to the kid, but now even the slightest hint of Faba in anything was severely setting him off especially now.  
What did that stupid kid see in that demon?  
He gnashed his teeth.  
Why the hell did people fucking care about him?  
Wicke, Rose, Keven, It didn’t make any fucking sense.  
The fucking stuck up’s.  
All charmed by the fucking bastard, but Malachite knew he was nasty, a horrible man.  
Looking over what he did because of his status because of his smile.  
Tricking them, them looking over it, but he fucking knew.

‘A blond man smiled at him from the barstool his eyes sparkling with lust Malachite failed to see, What’s such a handsome man such as yourself going here all alone?’

“Do not..” he growled, fists continuing to twitch, “Talk to me like that! I AM YOUR BRANCH CHIEF! UNDERSTAND!? SO DON’T FUCKING TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!”  
“Sir,” The ocean haired man’s head jerked erratically to Roy, who approached him carefully, getting in front of Keven and pushing the boy behind him, “Calm yourself and do not yell at Mr. Keven. I understand your frustrations on my failure to catch the Fabest for you, but you need to calm down.”  
Malachite twitched again, the red in his vision not fading.  
That last part sounded like a command to him, “You don’t tell me what to do Mr. Roy,” he growled dangerously.   
“You are correct on that sir, I just don’t want you to hurt anyone. Keven is only a child Branch Chief... I’m the only one you need to speak with, all this is my responsibility. Please send Mr. Keven and the others away, they aren’t needed here.”  
Hurt someone?  
He forced his hands to uncurl, why would Roy think he would do something like that?!

‘You’re acting aggressive Malachite’  
'A flash of fear in Daymond’s eyes.'  
‘Archer cowering as he screamed at him.’

Did Roy think.. he was going to punch a teenager?  
He wouldn’t hurt someone like that let alone a kid!

'Malachite fought back a whimper as he applied the ointment on his many, many bruises.'

No.. wouldn’t hurt anyone.  
For a moment Faba’s beastel scream rang in his head.  
“Fine.. get out all of you, now,” he growled at the others, closing his eyes for a moment to try and make the red fade from his vision.  
The others in the room didn’t say a word and did as they were told, Keven lingering for a moment to glare before Roy pushed him to the entrance, leaving Malachite all alone with the stoic man and the damn Zoroark.  
“Explain,” he hissed, beginning to pace, starting the breathing exercises Daymond taught him long ago in an effort to calm down.  
“Of course, you see my squadron and I searched Melemele as you commanded and came what we thought was the Fabeast. We managed to catch it with some trouble and the creature revealed itself to be a Zororark soon after we reached Aether. I theorize the creature belongs to young master Gladion. He must have ordered his pokemon to take the form of the Fabeast.”  
Malachite found it even harder to calm down now, his breaths sounding more like strangled pokemon grunts.   
Arcus fucking damn it.  
Of course, Gladion would think up a scheme like that!   
They wouldn’t have just let Faba run around by himself!  
They still had him!   
They were hiding him somewhere!  
Probably taking such good care of him…  
Petting him, feeding him, making him happy, making him purr and wag his stupid tail.  
His breathing got raspier as his hands twitching up a storm.  
“Stupid! Those stupid little.. Roy! We have to find it! WE HAVE TO FIND THAT BASTARD! No matter what!! Even if that means going through with the fucking blackmail... I’ll do it...I'LL DO IT, Roy! I’m getting it BACK! and when I do… it’s going to hurt..”  
“I understand that Branch Chief Malachite, but I’m to ask you once again to calm down, you do not think clearly when you are this angry and please forgive me for saying this sir, but you haven’t been thinking clearly at all after what happened to Daymond. You’re acting violent Branch Chief, extremely so. For a moment I thought you were going to hurt Mr. Keven,” Roy said harshly for once with emotion, flaring protection burned into his eyes.  
Something about Roy’s tone, to Malachite at least sounded extremely accusing of something.  
Malachite didn’t appreciate it.  
“You say that like I’ve hit someone recently.” he hissed through clenched teeth, still trying his best to breathe as he walked in small circles around the man.  
Roy didn’t reply to that for a moment, his eyes narrowing ever so lightly, “Well, it’s just that you’ve been around Franchesca now and again and lately I couldn’t help, but notice bruises keep popping up all over her. I just passed her in the hall recently after she spoke to you about the petrol she’s about to go on and I couldn't help but notice she had new ones around her neck. Tell me.. do you who could’ve done such a thing?”  
The ocean eyed man got what he was hinting at and growled out loud, “I didn’t do that!” he spoke truthfully.  
He hadn’t even noticed bruises on Franchesca’s neck when he talked to her, maybe it was because he had been so angry and Franchesca had just been making it worse with her sarcasm.  
No, he would never, never do something like that to her, to anyone, especially as…

‘Malachite could feel hands tightened around his throat as the man pinning him down put his-‘

He knew how it felt…  
“Usually I would agree with you Branch Chief Malachite, but you’re not acting like yourself. You are losing your temper if someone so much as says no to you, yell at them... I hope you understand I will do everything in my power to protect the employees of Aether. I won’t let you continue to harm Franchesca if you are so or anyone else for that matter.”  
“I'M NOT HURTING HER!” he screamed, pacing faster now, around and around the man, “I.. I didn’t lay a hand on her!! I can’t believe you would think I would do something like that! Just because I’ve been a tad aggravated lately!” he growled, “Did you even ask Reginald about her new injuries yet!? He’s been hanging out a lot with Franchesca even more than me! I think they’ve even been together in the lab’s downstairs on more than a few occasions… Why the hell are you questioning me before that homophobic, sexist!? You know that he hates Franchesca just because she doesn’t want to fuck him! You know how that man gets when he doesn’t get what he wants. Markus has even told me about an outburst he had in his room a few days ago…”  
Thinking about it, Malachite started to wonder for a moment if Markus was lying and making up the whole fiasco, he had been speaking oddly and the tantrum he had spoken to him about was about bowling of all things, it was almost as if he was using the conversation to buy time...  
Roy’s nose twitched at his language as his eyes still looking straight forward to the wall, “I understand your disliking for Reginold, Branch Chief… What he’s called you is far from right and his… language towards women is frankly disgusting, but Reginald would never go as far as to have outbursts like the ones you are describing or to harm Franchesca in such a violent way and even if he did, unlike you, he is not above her job wise. He is smart enough not to hurt or even touch her in such a way if he did that man would probably be in the hospital as of now, as for you… she won’t have fought back. I am aware that she needs this job, with her… record she wouldn’t have anywhere else to go. Did she say something disrespectful to you Branch Chief? Did you strike her?”

‘He could feel fists hit his gut now, his lover was angry, so angry at him again. What did he do? What did he do wrong this time?! It was his fault again, it always was.’

“I SAID I DIDN’T ROY!!” he hissed, stopping his pacing to walk closer to the dark haired man, “I don’t know why Franchesca has fucking bruises, she’s probably just getting into more damn fights again. You know how she is, how aggressive she can be.. It’s her. I didn’t do fucking anything. It’s not my fault.”  
Red, he saw so much red.  
Not his fault, it wasn’t his fault, nothing was his fault.

‘Malachite please stop blaming yourself! It was him, it was always him.. you didn’t do anything wrong!'

It wasn’t his fault..  
Malachite’s breathing got even more unstable, his entire body visibly shaking now.  
Roy just continued to stare at him, “Perhaps so, Branch Chief, but forgive me if I cannot entirely believe you are as innocent as you claim. As I said your temper… It's been very alarming lately and I... can’t recommend feeling all this anger without.. someone’s assistance, have you never thought about therapy perhaps? Daymond is gone.. and you need help Malachite, I can tell…. that you are hurting.”  
H..help? He said that like there was something wrong with him, like he was some kind of fucking freak like Archer.  
He wasn’t demented like a freak, not malicious not sadistic… not in the slightest.  
There was nothing wrong with him, nothing.

‘Malachite come on, I’ll even come with you! I know it’s painful, but you need to talk to someone about what happened..’

Daymond was one person to talk to him about going to that sort of thing, but Roy?  
He hadn’t even talked to Daymond all too much about it..  
Roy had no damn right.  
He didn’t know him, didn’t know the hell he had gone through.  
He wanted to punch Roy in his emotionless face so badly.  
Pretending he of all people knew what was best for him, accusing him of such horrible acts..  
Roy didn’t tell him what to fucking do.  
No one did, not anymore.  
He was in control, he was on top.  
He was the alpha now, he was in control.  
“shut..up,” he growled softly, fiddling with the object in his pocket to enforce himself of this control.   
“No, I don’t think I will. I have stayed silent when it comes to you for too long now. You need help Malachite. The foundation and what… Mrs. Lusmine is allowing you to do.. how excited you were about it even afterward is far from normal. If you don’t wish to talk to a therapist.. what about your family Malachite? How about you possibly contact them? Don’t become the monster Malachite the others fear you are becoming, please do not-“  
It was those fatal words, everything that the man had said up to now, consumed Malachite’s vision in nothing but red, where Roy only became a small blur that was trying to defy him.  
Monster, monster, monster.  
He wasn’t a monster!!!  
Faba was the monster literally and metaphorically, monster, monster, monster.  
What he did to the Type: Nulls, Pokémon he experimented on the employees, him…  
He shivered, then twitched, twitched again.  
Making every moment he saw him a moment of fear, struggling to breathe properly when the old chief got too close for him.  
Faba’s face, his attitude, hell even his posture was just too similar to his.  
They were basically the same person, he had every right to hate him.  
Fuck you Faba, you ruined everything for me.  
Red, he saw red  
“Monster..?” his voice dropped to a gravelly sounding whisper, “I’m not a monster.. You.. You have a lot of fucking nerve saying that Roy.. saying that I have problems AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FUCKING FAMILY!!!! DID YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT THEM!??!! ONE DAY YOU WERE GRIEVING UP A STORM THAN FUCKING NOTHING!!!! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT HAS PROBLEMS ROY!!! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO NEEDS HELP NOT ME!! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!!! NOTHING!!! MR EMOTIONLESS… YOUR SO FUCKING EMPTY ROY AND GUESS WHAT YOU DONT HAVE ANYONE!!!! I HAVE DAYMOND.THAT'S ALL I NEED!! YOU DON'T HAVE ANYONE!! ANYONE!!!!! AND GUESS WHAT?! IT'S YOUR FAULT!! NOT MINE ROY!!!! ITS YOUR FUCKING FAULT YOU HAVE NO ONE!!!!”  
Malachite screamed at the top of his lounges, basically spitting all over Roy’s face, still gripping the object in his hand.  
The stoic man stayed emotionless through all this until the mentions of Roy’s deceased family slipped out of his mouth and the implications behind his words.  
Malachite gasped and heaved at the end of his rant, still twisting his object around in his pocket, small droplets of saliva pooling out of his mouth, still seeing red, but through it, he could see the rage glinting in Roy’s dark brown almost black eyes as he slowly wiped the spit off his face.  
“How dare you. It would be very wise If you didn’t suggest the death of my wife and child was of my own doing. I can understand you are upset at me, but you do not bring up the dead in this conversation. You can disrespect me all you want, but don’t you dare disrespect my family again or you will regret it Malachite. I promise you that,” he said, anger simmering in his voice.  
Malachite blinked, the red was fading once again and it wasn’t because of the threat Roy had made even as surprising as it was.  
Roy’s family? No! He hadn’t meant it like that!  
He wasn’t suggesting it was his fault at all! Just that none of anything was his..  
None of this was Malachite’s fault, It was Roys!  
He was the one who caught the Zoroark, went through with his plans, was Faba’s little lap Rockruff when the bastard was human.  
Even in his state, Malachite knew there was a big flaw in his logic, that he had gone way too far in his rant.   
Roy pulled his family into it, but Malachit’s weren’t dead and it wasn’t like Roy knew about the relationship or lack of one they had.  
The guy called him a monster but he.. He brought up the guy's deceased fucking family..  
That he didn’t care when they died.  
What was wrong with him?  
Malachite swallowed thickly and stepped away to give the employee back his space, “You’re right.. I’m sorry Roy, I didn’t mean.. to bring them up,” he mumbled finally releasing the object.  
“You should be,” Roy growled, “Now I’ll say It one more time, you need help and you need to stop what you're doing Malachite, I’m not going to push you any more than this as any more wouldn't be worth the effort. You need to control your emotions before you do something you really regret. You’ve already hurt yourself and others enough by doing this and most likely won’t be able to come back from it, the same goes for me.” the man trailed off for a moment,   
“I think I’ll go report to the President about her sons Zoroark now, It needs to be done and you still look very displeased, I don’t want you going off at her and getting yourself hurt..” he continued abruptly.  
Malachite was going to reply to that, say he was sorry again, but without dismissing himself like he usually did Roy quickly walked out the door and slammed it, hard behind him.  
Malachite cringed at the sound and wrapped his arms around himself as tight as possible, Roy was really mad at him..  
It was the angriest he had ever seen the guy and worse at that, he hadn’t been yelling, but speaking softly, in a disappointed tone even.  
Malachite hated it when anyone yelled, but that tone never failed to make him feel crippling guilty, Daymond used to use it all the time after all when he did something stupid..  
Why did he say that to Roy?  
Why did he say that to him!?  
Thinking about it he had said a lot of bad things to people recently.  
Franchesca, Archer, Reginald, Rose, and so on, they didn’t deserve it at all, he was just so angry.  
So uncountable, had so much raw rage that never seemed to fade only dip down and rise back up.  
It wasn’t just towards Faba anymore, but at everything at this point.  
He was so angry all the time and he hated it.  
He could control it a little before, but without Daymond..  
Roy really was right in a way.  
Even now that he was calmer the red still lingered, it always did now.

'Red, red, red, all over him, all over the front of Daymond's uniform.'  
'Daymond’s blood, all over him'  
‘his blood, his blood now all over a blond man fists, what did I tell you about talking back Malie?”

Angry, he was so angry, there was so much red.  
‘Your acting aggressive Malachie.’   
The ocean haired man cringed again and shuddered softly, this time not from any kind of rage.  
Mia was right, he couldn’t visit Mary when he was acting this way..  
He wanted to, wanted to see her smile at him and ask him questions he had already told her time and time again, let her hug him and pull him into the kitchen to try and get him to eat, make him feel better, less empty, hug him, Arcus he wanted a hug, but he couldn’t Malachite didn’t want him to act like that around her not matter of how confident in himself that he won't.  
He wasn’t risking it.  
Not in ever.  
He would just stay in his quarters instead watch one of Daymond’s stupid musicals he liked so much, it’s not like any would notice if he didn’t leave anyhow.  
He needed to calm down, have a breather and calm him down.. But he swore if one more big fucking thing happened in the foundations tonight.  
One more thing to set him off with Faba maybe and he was going to snap.   
Completely this time, he could still feel the rage still bubbling inside him, burning his insides.  
He just hoped Faba would be caught soon to take his anger out completely on.  
Yeah… that sound great. Maybe for once, Faba could actually bring some good into his life as he makes the pathetic man no.. the creature black, blue, and red with his fists.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Malachite: "H..How do you know what's good for me!?"  
> Roy: "BECAUSE THAT'S MY FUCKING OPINION!"  
> Malachite: O.O


End file.
